


He Was the Hero, but I Was the Villain

by WhoknewZeus



Series: Thominho Superpowers Stuff [2]
Category: The Maze Runner (Movies), The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: Action, Adventure, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Death, Drama, Flashbacks, I may add more tags along the way, M/M, Maybe - Freeform, Sequel, anger problems, dude - Freeform, eh, fighting like hell in this bitch, it's going to wreck a lot of yalls, melancholic, one big clusterfuck, or at least I hope it does, past problems, slight romance, slow-build, there's a lot of OC I made in this one, this story, will be
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-28
Updated: 2017-01-04
Packaged: 2018-07-27 07:26:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 54,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7609132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhoknewZeus/pseuds/WhoknewZeus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Minho had been asleep for a while after being separated from Thomas. It was finally time to wake up and face the reality of being under W.I.C.K.E.D.'s control until he could find a way to escape on his own.</p><p>With the past haunting him, Minho would have to endure severe challenges to prove to himself he could face Thomas with courage again.</p><p>It would come down to which side Minho believed he belonged to; the world's enemy Thomas or W.I.C.K.E.D.'s questionable alliance?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Awaken, Dormant Wind

**Author's Note:**

> THANK YOU ALL FOR ENDURING MY FIRST STORY LIKE THAT. I hope y'all are ready for my comeback w/ the sequel. I do apologize for not getting it up sooner, for I had family come over and had been crazy with going out and whatnot. I am enjoying my summer before school comes back~
> 
> Anyways, please do understand I will update about weekly to get myself together on the final piece (asndjdad I totally did not complete this yet, hahaha). Please be patient as I try to get the ending and everything else together as I want it to be. On the bright side, there's always 5 chaps ready to go after revising them.
> 
> Please enjoy it as much as you guys can~

Was the world in despair? Was the world supposed to fall apart after Thomas had become earth king? What was supposed to happen to Minho? Well, he was inside of a human-sized glass tube filled with freezing water. He was stripped of his clothing besides his boxer briefs with all the suction cups connected to tubes were attached to various parts of his body.

 

W.I.C.K.E.D. kept him under surveillance and tested his life signatures to know if he was under any unpleasurable stress. Nyx stood by idly as she awaited for orders from higher ups. She had a tablet in her hand as she monitored the progress of the experiment  _ and _ Earth Kingdom. 

 

They were fortunate for the funding globally because the number of zeros in their funding could make anyone an instant Bill Gates by tenfold. They had Minho preserved inside of the tube for the last two months since Nyx had brought him to the HQ. 

 

“When are we going to wake him up?” Nyx asked one of the scientists that was in the room with her. 

 

“At least until we can get the Swipe function working in his head.” The same system that was tested on Thomas was being redone on Minho. 

 

Fortunately, they had made their testing runner-safe. Or at least they  _ tried _ to. The protocol was to get Swipe to work to hack into Minho’s brain and analyze all the memories the ex-investigator had with Thomas. They wanted to know every little detail they could get of Thomas — the Earth King.

 

W.C.K.E.D. needed the knowledge that Minho was keeping locked in his head, but it had seem to be proven difficult. “We need to wake him up soon,” Nyx commented as she inhaled a long breath, “Earth King has been increasing his kingdom quite largely. It is also a detriment to his health to be in there for an extensive period.”

 

Since the time Minho was put into stasis, Thomas had made the maze that was once Glade city into the Earth Kingdom. His powers grew only stronger with each day that past. He had been taking nearby cities and landscapes into his kingdom. LA and San Francisco were the first to be absorbed into the maze. 

 

There were a few grievers sent in to investigate along with the beetle blades. However, they were handled by not Thomas, but rather his personal defense team. The rebellion of runners against W.I.C.K.E.D.’s forces. The fact that these runners were capable of taking down grievers were a sign that Thomas had been training these runners to fight incredibly strong foes. 

 

The only reason WCKED knew that Thomas was the Earth King was because of their secret spy Dylan. After the earth runner incident, WCKED removed Dylan’s left eye and gave him a robotic one that he could still see through it while also giving an instant recorder for the organization to watch.

 

They watched every moment Dylan spent running from people trying to lynch him while also having grievers pretending to attack him. Then the Earth King appeared and told Dylan to follow him to ‘salvation.’ The shelter of the earth runners was actually as their name stated — earth. Deep inside of the ground at least fifty-feet past the surface layer, the group of earth runners had a place to call home for the time being.

 

The training was definitively rigorous because Earth King was intending to build an army to rebel. WCKED watched from every moment since Dylan came into contact with Thomas until Dylan’s dying breath by the powers of Minho. It was there that they realized that they needed Minho to be the savior to the  _ world _ . Or at least that was what they wanted from him… 

 

Inside of Minho’s head, he was dreaming of being in different worlds. He played many roles with Thomas there along his side, and Minho thought of multiple ways they could have met each other with different endings to each story. 

 

But the general rule of thumb about sleeping was that dreams were merely fantasies and reality would always be reality. It was just another story about twittering birds that never could fly. How beautiful the blues sounded underneath snow or driving his heart down to a university. It was all possible worlds Minho could have been living in. There was a first time for everything, he supposed.

 

Time, action, communication, death were all irrevocable. There was no pause and rewind settings on any of those. Running around kissing Thomas a million ways inside of his mind, feeling the soft touch of chocolate hair between each interspace of his fingers, saying the meaningful three words until Minho could not say it anymore, it was crumbling apart already.

 

He was no longer the bodyguard, nor the bus driver, or the singing barista. With his eyes open to the new environment he was trapped in, cords all suctioned to his skin, he understood that he was back to Minho: runner of wind, Earth King’s — Thomas’s boyfriend. 

 

Minho tried to gasp for air but realized the tube was filled with some sort of weird liquid that tasted funny to his palate. As he trashed mid-float with bubbles of his oxygen flowing out of his mouth, his left arm glowed neon blue and responded to his emotions and desires. The water moved as if it had a will of its own, not leaving a single drop of it touching the black-haired Asian, to give Minho space to breath and spit the remainder of the strange liquid out of his mouth. “That’s surely new,” he thought aloud. 

 

Nyx gave a look to the scientist she was speaking to that clearly expressed “I told you so.” She sighed before teleporting to the front of the tube where Minho was contained. “Can you free yourself or shall I?”

 

“I think I can break things on my own perfectly fine,” Minho smirked, closing and opening his left hand. The water bent back away from the glass before it smacked and smashed straight through the fragile material. 

 

Nyx used a blinding shield to protect her from the shards that were flying all over the place. Luckily, nothing too expensive was destroyed. Minho thought of his newfound power the same as controlling wind. They both flowed in a certain manner similar to each other.

 

One of the higher ups attempted to ring up Nyx through her hologram communicator. She made a straight face as she answered it, “Yes, Chancellor Anderson?”

 

A hologram did appear of a man in the same uniform as the WCKED scientists around. He almost seemed the same age as at least half of them from what Minho assumed. The man stood prideful with his hands behind his back and chest raised up. “The boy is awake?”

 

“Man,” Minho corrected Anderson, which caught the attention of the hologram.

 

“Ah, yes, you.”

 

“What’s it to ya?” Clearly not happy about where he was after waking up.

 

“Starting today, you will really train to become a special ops griever. You will be trained by the strongest of our people. Nyx will answer any questions you have, and I bid you farewell and luck on your training. Produce good results,  _ man _ ,” Anderson ended at a slight mockery of Minho. The transmission was soon cut off afterwards.

 

Minho sighed as he was sure if there was a sign-up sheet to being recruited to become a griever, then the black-haired Asian was not having any part of it. Not one name, address, city, or email was going to be inputted. However, it was too late already. Being at the place  _ where _ grievers were at was not going to be good place to start a conflict on Minho’s side.

 

The odds were at least one to over five-hundred, and the numbers were going to continue growing on the other side, too. Well, you know what they say, if you can’t beat them, join them. If only Minho was really interested in joining them that was.

 

“Let’s get you something to eat first,” Nyx stated, turning her back and walking away from him, expecting him to follow him. “Then we will immediately put you to the test against one of our strongest runners.”

 

“Grievers. You know they’re grievers once they had been marked by WCKED,” Minho remarked, testing Nyx’s honest patience. 

 

Minho could only imagine the eye roll she must had made at him.“Whatever. Grievers or runners, you all are worthless to me, now.” 

 

****

 

HQ was not a small building was what Minho had learned about WCKED in the last two hours. It had over 100 floors with each containing a wide variety of technological research facilities. On a good note, or at least Minho thought it was good, they were always trying to find ways to improve human life. 

 

The WCKED HQ was built to look like a skyscraper from above the surface, but below, it was almost as if it were a whole new world. Anything above the surface of the earth was purely for research development while underneath consisted of all the grievers and soon-to-be grievers training grounds and dorms. Minho was impressed by such progress and figured that it  _ was  _ WCKED that he was talking about. 

 

Entering a huge white dome, it appeared to had stretched over a hundred yards, and there was someone already waiting for Minho to come through the giant sliding luminescent white doors. Minho was dressed in one of the plain battle uniform that they gave to recruits. It was in an ugly shade of gray that no one ever wore unless they were trapped in some sort of prison. 

 

Well, at least the prison Minho was at was high-tech as hell. The person that was waiting for Nyx and Minho was Chancellor Anderson. The man that got on the communicator with Nyx earlier was in the flesh in front of the Asian. Anderson greeted warmly, “Welcome to the training field. Make sure to get comfortable as this will be common to your eyes soon enough.”

 

“Don’t plan on to,” Minho winked at the high-ranked official. 

 

“I can see your attitude needs correcting when speaking to superiors. That just won’t  _ cut  _  it here,” Anderson threatened and attempted to slap Minho across the face.

 

Luckily, the wind powers were still functioning perfectly in-sync with Minho, and he used it to stop the motion of Anderson’s hand midway. “I don’t think so.”

 

Nyx blinked out of the arena because she knew what was about to happen. “Oh,  _ man _ , you can call me by my first name: Kevin.” Chancellor Kevin Anderson had said, feeling a dark smile to creep up on his cheeks.

 

With just brute force, Kevin broke through the wind restraints and directly landed a slap on Minho’s delicate cheek and sent him  _ literally  _ flying fifty feet backwards. Minho was almost out of the dome even though he barely arrived. He was speechless at such tremendous strength. 

 

“What the fuck are you on?” Minho was feeling his jaw trying to relocate itself. There was no way a regular immune could save such power by another immune  _ unless  _ Kevin was still hiding something.

 

“Your wind is rudimentary to stop small motions like that slap, but when adding brute power to it, your control over it snaps like a spine,” Kevin analyzed the situation effortlessly. Minho had to guess there was a vigil group that was also evaluating their match as they spoke. 

 

“Don’t tell me you’re one of the strongest grievers they have,” Minho finally understood what was going on.

 

“Correct, my boy. However, I am a simple runner and not a griever. I did not need to be a griever to become stronger. I did this through my own tedious but diligent endeavor,” Kevin flaunted his life story to Minho, which was honestly whatever to the Asian.

 

“To be honest, you speak too long.” Minho pointed his finger, the air changed around it, and shot a gust straight at Kevin. It was going to be a complicated attack, but fuck it all.

 

Kevin slapped the gust easily away, as Minho predicted, of course. The air that seeped through his fingers began to wrap tight-like strings of wind and dragged the chancellor’s hand backwards in its original motion. “What the,” Kevin seemed generally surprised.

 

“Yeah,” Minho smirked his usual “you’re fucked” expression. 

 

Minho pulled his hand up, lifted Kevin into the air, and proceeded to toss him to the other side of the dome until he hit a direct wall. It was not like it was going to hurt the chancellor, though. Minho had thought the man in charge should be able to take a hit or two. 

 

Kevin was beginning to release a dark aura into the air that Minho could smell bloodlust permeating into the atmosphere. “Oh, now that’s more like it,” Kevin politely stated, standing up properly to dust off any dirt that caught on his clothes. “Would you like some water to be set up to test your water abilities, too?”

 

Before Minho had a chance to answer for himself, the floor began to flip and revealed numerous tanks of water settled in different areas of the dome. The seal and lock on each of them were undone and revealed a fresh source of water for Minho to freely use. 

 

He liked that he was being given a handicap, but Minho knew that meant there was a reason behind it that he was not going to like as much as he despised evil. “So what are your powers exactly?” Minho had to ask to grasp at what was going to attack him.

 

“I knew you would ask that question, which is why the medical team will be here shortly,” Kevin walked ever so slowly, “let’s say you have about ten minutes to finish me off before I  _ show  _ you.”

 

“Cocky bastard,” Minho smiled, not giving his challenger a break to breathe. He tried using multiple gust attacks to blow back Kevin, but they were all repelled without a trace of struggle. It was a worth another shot.

 

“One minute,” Kevin commented, walking the same pace. They were still far apart, so Minho was glad to keep the distance safe for now.

 

Seeing that simple air attacks were simply nothing to the chancellor, Minho concentrated his power underneath each step Kevin took. The black-haired Asian only needed the cue to release.

 

“Two mi—”

 

There it was. “Gotcha!” 

 

A small tornado lifted Kevin into the air, and then the glowing neon blue on Minho’s left arm helped manipulate all the cases of water in the dome. He seemed to understood how water and his energy could cooperate together since it was similar to the everlasting free wind.

 

Torrents of water came crashing into the chancellor from different directions. Drenching the the floor beneath Kevin, Minho took the leftover from the bottom and began shaping the thousands of droplets into spears. The water stopped colliding into Kevin and allowed him to fall down to where the spears were placed, waiting for the chancellor.

 

If Chancellor Anderson was someone that even Nyx was not up to par with, Minho had to see what was up Kevin’s sleeves to understand what made this man fearful. Instead of being pierced by the sharp water-objects that Minho created, Kevin fell right through them and plopped to the floor. 

 

“Jesus, what is your back made out of up?” Minho was concerned and surprised that someone like Kevin was starting to already recover from the fall. “Steel?”

 

Earning a small laugh, Kevin shook his head and smirked. “ _ Nine _ minutes.” 

 

Minho had grind his teeth to how annoying it was being timed. It was beginning to stress him out, but he realized the importance of impressing someone of the higher ups. As a favorite quote Minho used for most of his life, “Fuck it all.”

 

It only required 45 seconds to completely pull the literal oxygen out of Kevin’s lungs, but it took only less than a second for Kevin to activate his own powers. The medical team came through the giant sliding white doors, and Minho felt something as equally sinister in the air as when he first met Thomas’ other persona during the encounter with the fire-runner. “Time’s up, Minho.”

 

Kevin’s body illuminated in a plum-jam color. It was secreting ooze in an omnidirectional attack. It covered at least one-third of the dome in its ominous aura. The skin where Kevin had slapped Minho directly on began to glow in the same color as the Kevin’s aura, and it baffled the Asian what was going on.

 

“I like to call it Wonderland is Burning,” the chancellor suddenly appeared in front of Minho in the usual formal stance. “It’s basic at most but a good foundation to know where your power stands against mine. If you can’t endure this, you are still  _ weak _ . The plague will consume you.”

 

Unable to comprehend the information that was being settled in Minho’s head, he contemplated what kind of attack was that, and why did the chancellor suddenly become the Flash? The handprint on Minho’s face began to react again, and it began growing out a odd branch directly from his flesh.

 

Minho’s entire body was turning as pale as snow, and then the purple and blue veins were visible throughout his body. There was something dire and malevolent about Kevin’s powers because Minho was tearing his sanity apart.

 

A dark old, rusted lock hanging on the metal bars of memories that were supposed to be suppressed were released. Kevin calmly made his way to the door, letting his powers fade away, and gave the medical team the nod of agreement. Meanwhile Minho had began throwing up and scratching his skin violently. His screams were bloodcurdling to say the least; despair of Thomas falling into a place where Minho could not reach.

 

It hurt. It hurt so much. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It… hurt. It! Hurts! “Ahhhh!” Minho screamed once more in the same level of agony and pain. His body felt like it was starting to morph, and he could see his vision flashing in and out between what was tangible and real versus the delusions. From Minho’s sight, he could only see Thomas being taken away by the darkness. A single tear fell, dancing in the air like Thomas did, until it splat down. “Give.  _ Him _ . Back.” 

 

An unusual speed of the air currents inside, and it was starting to force back the medic team from being able to perform any sort of action on Minho. Nyx appeared in a blink of an eye, and she assessed the situation and noticed a fairly high power-level in the dome. 

 

“It seems like I had made a small mistake,” Chancellor Anderson commented, halting his position, “old wounds blistered and popped open. He holds something dark inside as well.”

 

“Never. Again.” Minho murmured, the water laying around began to move towards the ex-investigator in slug-like movement. 

 

Kevin turned to face Minho once more. “Did my  _ plague  _ devour too much of your sanity? Did  _ our  _ stray dog turned rabid?” Suddenly, Kevin collapsed to the floor with his hand grasping his chest. It had felt like there was a corset hugging his lungs or something inside. It constricted his airways and prevented him from being able to breathe properly. 

 

Minho was trying to choke him out!

 

Kevin smiled and released a heavy breath and broke the hold that Minho had over it. “That’s it! That want for power, for the kill, is exactly what I am looking for!” He rose his arm and the same dark purple-ish color secreted from it and ate up his whole limb in such a disgusting color.

 

“Chancellor, I don’t think he will be able to handle that much power yet,” Nyx tried to intervene. 

 

“Oh, let the man decide on whether he can handle it or not. It’s only a matter of being loyal to someone he loves,” Kevin clearly ignored the suggestion. “It’s not like everyday you find out your boyfriend is the world’s enemy.”

 

Minho had a massive headache and all he could think about was how Kevin had to be eliminated if he wanted to get close to Thomas again. Matter in fact,  _ everyone _ had to be die, for Minho to ever see the smiling face that was Stephen Thomas. The water swayed and slithered forward to the medic team, Nyx, and the Chancellor. It suddenly had red glowing eyes and took the aquatic embodiment of a snake with its mouth open and fangs ready to strike. 

 

“It seemed my plague took quite a hit on his mental stability. He’s lucky I only used a low-level of my power to strike him,” Kevin uttered, shaking his head in disapproval. “Nyx, render him blind.”

 

“Yes, sir,” Nyx complied, causing an orb of pure basking light to fade away any line of vision Minho had over the enemies. Then there was a slap to his face and sent him flying all over again.

 

Once the light dimmed down by a lot, Minho had passed out completely. His body seemed back to normal as the mark on his cheek had been removed. Kevin sighed and did not spare another glance at the mess. 

 

The medical team had began to move out to treat Minho for damages. Kevin exited the area with Nyx by his side. “I took back my plague on his cheek,” confessed the Chancellor.

 

“I figured you would.” They walked in unison, both of their heels clicked in one tone together. “You could always take back your powers if you felt like it, but it would still leave your victims tremendously drained.” 

 

“Mhm,” hummed Kevin. “I want him to meet our water grievers by tomorrow. Let the strongest of them teach him to properly use his newfound powers.”

  
“Yes, Chancellor.”


	2. Six Wonders of the World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, it was nice having my cousin around for a month before she heads back to Texas tomorrow morning. I'm sorry I couldn't post this a little sooner, but y'all can wait tbh. I'm also lowkey sad about it, but we have to get sad about things and let them rain go over our heads for awhile before we can move on. It was nice while it lasted. Back to being a serious writer~ Enjoy the chapter c:

It was another morning like any other. Well, it was like that until Minho actually woke up. 

 

The room filled with nothing but a single bed in white. Most of the objects in the room were also in the bland and bright shade of white: the cabinet, drawers, closet, walls, and floor. To think that an organization like WCKED would have the money to build each room to everyone’s liking. 

 

It probably would be obvious that there was some sort of security camera hidden inside the room somewhere, so Minho was not entirely careless to expose anything secretive. Letting one toe touch the white flooring before the rest of his foot, Minho grimaced about the tacky clothing he had on. He wished to have something of his style at least. 

 

Once both of his feet were on the floor, it seemed to have activated something since a hologram of a screen appeared in front of his face. Minho read out the first option to himself, “Customize?” Clicking on it without sensing any danger to it.

 

It took him to another screen that had “Furniture” and “Room” labeled in white text within a blue bubble. Seeing no further harm to playing with WCKED’s technology, Minho chose the room and noticed a new screen asking him for a preference and to say it aloud for the computer to analyze. “Forest with a waterfall,” said Minho audibly for the system to take in.

 

Within the shortest second, all the walls and flooring of the room became a luscious forest of mainly green and brown. Directly behind his bed was the image of the waterfall with waves upon waves of cooling water plunging into the basin below. The fact that everything was surreal and moving made Minho believed he was back at Paradise… with Thomas.

 

A heartstring immediately was cut. An acute pain attacked his heart with his hands clutched to the gray shirt he had on. Luckily, it did not last too long for Minho to start physically going insane again. “Bottom of the ocean,” Minho told the computer, wherever it was placed in the room.

 

Then it all went black as a dead computer screen. At the ceiling, it portrayed an image of the sun shining vividly through the surface of the water. It was gorgeous to say the least. The way light refracted off of the water due to its different wave velocity. Minho found it visually pleasing and calming.

 

It was like he was not trapped in the room designed by WCKED or that there was something called Earth Kingdom. Everyone he liked was either dead or the villain to the world. It was not like he had much options for friends. The once lively heart flying high above land was descending into the numbing cold waters, where it would stay dormant.

 

The fields of war was not resting despite the way Minho cradled himself in bed. The broad daylight was only another excuse to invade the Earth Kingdom for grievers 1324, 1567, and 2000. They secretly were able to infiltrate the area closest to the center where the Earth King should be controlling his kingdom. 

 

Nyx was able to teleport the small group of spies through the air to prevent them from touching the ground. The longer they could stay in the air, the longer they were unnoticed by Earth King. The falling group pulled their parachutes and began to glide to their destination as carefully and quietly as possible. 

 

G1324 uttered, “There’s a good chance we won’t all return if we get caught.”

 

“That was already explained by our commander,” G1567 rolled his eyes. 

 

“Can y’all just cheer up? Damn,” G2000 hushed her teammates down.

 

Something from below them began stretching out in an attempt to catch them. It had seemed to be a long piece of cloth, but it was impossible for it be able to extend to such lengths, or let alone the fact that the wind could also blow it away. No way the green fabric was going to take down all their efforts within the first 30 minutes of their mission. 

 

Fortunately, only one cloth was going to at least grab one of them. G2000 allowed herself to be wrapped by the fabric with her leg. She made a small curse before worriedly looking at her comrades. “Don’t fail, guys.” Before the two other members could react to do something, G2000 was pulled downwards at a high speed before she made a dusty landing.

 

“50 meters before our destination,” G1324 remarked, noticing after that his other member had a depressed expression. “She’ll be fine.”

 

They nodded in unison before a light-green glow appeared on G1567. They both understood well what that meant, and G1567 looked pitiful in his eyes before he was also pulled down without another word spoken. 

 

It was all up to G1324 now. Holding a little tighter to the handle of parachute, he was all alone on the mission… 

 

****

 

G2000 stood up shakily before finding her balance. She took it upon herself to take a few good breaths before surveilling the area. Her parachute was spread out and was deemed unable to be used again. She was on her own to the center if whatever attacked her did not get to her again.

 

She undone her bun and let the blonde hair uncoil itself, falling on her backside to caress her W.I.C.K.E.D jacket. The whites on it had brown spots all over it. 

 

The walls of the maze were amazingly high. They were not even made out of mostly earth, for instead they were the remnants of buildings and shops. Sidewalks were literally sideways along with the trees and bushes. It was almost like she entered a world that was not Earth at all. Everything was baffling to think that one man was able to create such a place. 

 

The lonely griever walked down the maze in hopes of finding a way to the middle of it, but at the end where the path divided from left and right, someone was standing in the way of her. 

 

It was another woman with a smile that told the griever that this other woman had seduced many people before. The strange woman had her hair completely white and was obviously from Asian decent with her eyes. Her tan skin fitted perfectly with her green dress and long ribbon-like sleeves. “Hi, hi,” the runner sang happily.

 

G2000 sensed no known threat from the woman, but she had her guard up in case the unfamiliar woman decided to make a move. It was a battlefield, anyway. G2000 took note that the fabric wrapped tightly at the wrist and arm on the lady was in similar color to what wrapped around her own leg earlier in the sky. “You were the one that dragged me down from my team, huh?” G2000 made no effort trying to small talk.

 

“Wow, so fast and rude. How crude of you to talk to another woman like that!” the non-griever spoke offensively, but her face did not express anything of being hurt in any way.

 

“This is G2000, and I am about to engage in battle with a runner here.”

 

“Well, darling, I’m Maria, and it’s a pleasure to meet you, little miss griever,” Maria spoke elegantly, taking small steps towards G2000. “But I am afraid you need to be  _ disposed  _ of.”

 

G2000 was unfazed but rather intrigued by the woman’s abilities. It surely had something to do with cloth, but it could be also something else if she did not analyze it correctly. Seeing no easy way to avoid time and energy with fighting, G2000 sighed. “I’m Valerie. Griever ID No.: 2000. Codename: The Wine House Singer.” 

 

“Sounds like a whorehouse,” Maria admonished it, but she enjoyed the little meaning it had before she could snuff that griever out of her light. “I’m in.”

 

“Shut up!” Valerie shouted, sound waves bouncing off of multiple objects. Maria slightly flinched to the sudden noise. “It’s good to know you can hear clearly. That was your  _ first  _ mistake.”

 

Maria smiled cluelessly, tilting her head a little as if she were a dog. Valerie began singing lyrics to the first song she had in her head, “Why don’t you come-on-over? Stop makin’ a fooool outtta me~!”

 

Suddenly it struck Maria and she could feel it resonating in her bones. It was  _ sound  _ itself that was attacking her. Maria spun rapidly with the ribbons attached to her until she mummified herself. Valerie noticed it quickly that her sound waves could not penetrate the lime-green cloth for an odd reason.

 

Valerie stood in anticipation for a counterattack. The silence echoed the loudest in their environment. Nothing daring to make a sound for Valerie to hear. She could sense something coming directly at her, but there was no way the mummy-like state that Maria was in could be possible of attacking. 

 

“Wait—” Valerie figured that the next attack had to be below her, but it was too late. “Shit!” The same ribbons that Maria was spun with came out of the ground and tightly constricted Valerie’s arms together along with shutting her mouth up.

 

Maria unraveled herself and revealed that strings of fabric that managed to penetrate through the top layer of the ground to go all the way to where Valerie was standing. “My, my! Getting caught so soon, my little birdy? I’ll let you know that I, Maria Kyokgoku, is nicknamed as the ‘Bewitching Flower of Passion.’ ”

 

_ Magic powers in the cloth?  _ Valerie thought as she struggled, shaking and pulling back as hard as she could, in the restraints that Maria had put. 

 

“It’s no use, y’know?” Maria lightly commented, “We don’t notice the little things like simple fabric that could actually  _ kill _ us in the real world. Fashion is tragic really.”

 

Maria’s arms glowed in a shining gold-yellow and grassy-green before the ribbons that were on Valerie began growing more fabric and stretching to tie itself up like how a spider weaved a web. As if it were not already tight enough, the cloth began squeezing and crushing Valerie’s bones and organs.

 

Memories played a flashback in her head of her teammates waiting for her to finish her training to go back to the dorms together. She wondered what Ron and Goffin had accomplished since she was apprehended by Maria. 

 

Smiling faces that were only a flicker of light that disappeared with the sun. As one rib bone snapped because of pressure, another did, and then another. Her elbows bent forward and the collarbone was being pressed against each other. It was only a matter of time before everything else  _ broke _ . 

 

Valerie could not sing or do something in her power to stop the ribbons from taking her life, but she at least knew her death would be silent unlike the messy life she had lived through. The temporarily happiness she found in her memories could only keep her mind distracted from the pain long enough until… the bones in her body came in together and blood gushed out of her mouth, chest, and other places, staining the beautiful long streams of fabric that Maria had. 

 

“Oh, what?” Maria pouted with her red as the blood dripping on her drape-like cloths was ruining her favorite fabric. “I didn’t exactly want you to  _ die  _ that fast. Jeez, keep a lady entertained long enough next time. Wonder if Bryan is having a better time than I am?”

 

****

 

G1567 was held against a wall that used to be a sidewalk to somewhere. It was surely a strange place to be trapped in, but it was no good to be thinking those type of thoughts when the enemy was choking him out with some sort of psychic powers. 

 

An Asian male that was a little over six foot tall was doing the same hand motion that Darth Vader did with the force in the movies. “I have captured the intruder,” Bryan, another one of Thomas’ selected defenders, called out. The male worn a plaid shirt and regular blue jeans that made G1567 question if he was really fighting someone whose strength was on par with a griever. 

 

Bryan was a definitely a psychic-user, but he was already progressing far into his capabilities. It would be easier to snap the neck of the griever with a simple thought and committing to the notion, but Thomas did not give out orders on how quick they all needed to eliminate the grievers, so Bryan thought it would be entertaining to see what the other guy had up his sleeves

 

“Goffin, huh?” Bryan released his powers over Goffin’s neck. 

 

“Fuckin’ psychics, man,” Goffin shook his head after smacking into the floor, “but yeah.”

 

“I don’t think it matters if I say my name since this battle will be over in no time. But the name’s Bryan.”

 

“Cocky bastard,” Goffin disliked that quality in a person. He always told himself that a man’s hubris would be their downfall. A sand-like color glowed on his hands, and Goffin smacked the earth below his feet, causing a small change in the battlefield. 

 

A large rectangle of the ground began to sink past the surface, and Bryan seemed unfazed by it. Thomas was known to move the maze around once in awhile to differentiate the pattern. It was not too far, but Bryan kept his eyes open for a strike, whether it came as a thought or action. 

 

“You should probably know that your friend with the long hair is already dead,” Bryan heartlessly commented, noticing the small flinch Goffin made. 

 

“Sounds  _ heavy _ ,” Goffin smiled before he broke it and reached for the small patches of grass near him. After contact with his hand, he threw them at Bryan. It went at a higher speed than it should have, which shocked Bryan but was able to stop it regardless. “Expected.”

 

“So why did that ripped off grass come at me like thrown needles? Their density should not be that much,” Bryan had to ask for his curiosity. The most probable answer was Goffin’s powers, but was it really related to making things simply heavier?

 

Goffin murmured, picking up pebbles from his surroundings. “Heavy, huh?”

 

“There’s usually a codename you guys go by, so what’s yours?” Bryan was starting to show pique in Goffin, knowing it would be useless since Bryan could always stop the other male’s movement in an instant.

 

“It’s ‘My Burden is Yours,’ ” the pebbles being juggled in Goffin’s hand were then thrown at Bryan. 

 

There was no point of the fight going further since Bryan felt he understood enough of what was going on. Using telekinesis, he attempted to stop the pebbles mid-flight, but the object did not stop moving despite being held tightly by Bryan’s powers.

 

Heavy was what Bryan wanted to call it. He could easily hold off a lot of attacks, but these normal pebbles were frankly more heavy than what they should be. In fact, it was still gaining weight somehow.

 

With no choice to move out of the way, Bryan released the grip he had and watched as the pebbles flew across and dented the walls behind him. There were gadgets that WCKED provided that Goffin thought of using.

 

Right when Goffin was going to reach for a small container on the side of his belt, Bryan took the item away with ease. “What’s this?” Bryan looked over the device. It was small, coated in a bright white color.

 

Goffin snickered and pointed his finger down. In an instant Bryan fell to the ground and had his hand crushed underneath the weight of the device. “I can manipulate the mass and weight an object can have as long as I had physical contact with it within 30 minutes.” 

 

“Ah,” Bryan looked intrigued that there was a runner that was capable of manipulating something as complex as weight and mass. “I applaud you.” 

 

The object began to lift in the air on its own, and Goffin knew he was in trouble the second something ominous was blowing down his spine. “I’m Bryan — Messenger of the Kingdom.” 

 

Goffin was then pushed back against the wall. The backside rubbing upwards against the edgy sediment in an unwanted friction. The device exploded spontaneously and shot out a net above Bryan. Goffin used this to his advantage and made the weight of the net heavier by tenfold.

 

Bryan walked forward, seeming unbothered by the fast-approaching net. However, it never made contact with him. Bryan spun the net around with his mind and threw it back at Goffin. “Goodbye now,” Bryan politely bided farewell.

 

The net smacked against Goffin, but it plopped to the floor. It was expected that someone that could make things heavier could also return back to normal. Bryan thought it would be interesting to see the net crush the other male. Well, not all plans go accordingly.

 

“Oh well,” Bryan shrugged, forcing the net to wrap around Goffin. “Our business here is done.” Playing around with his finger, Bryan then crossed his arm and held his hands in a position as if he was trying to pry something open. 

 

He pulled in opposite directions and watched as Goffin began screaming. The skin around Goffin’s chest began to tear on its own. It separated into two different halves and exposed a bloody meaty area of his body. The muscles torn apart next. Each and every tissue was cut open like having thousands strings of fabric being cut by scissors. 

 

Bryan did not stop until he finally pried open the griever’s chest and ribcage. The horrific scene looked like a two-way door that was left open for guests to go in and out of. It was sickening while the corpse began to slide down the wall.

 

Arms glowing in light-green, Bryan used his telepathy to signal the others that he eliminated one out of the three invaders. 

 

****

 

Ron, the final griever, was already by the center of what should be the place where the Earth King was settling in. He wandered forward and knew somewhere in his heart that his teammates and him would return home together. They put a year of effort to get their powers stronger, and another to prepare themselves for the threat of the Earth King.

 

It did not have to end like this. Not in failure. Ron had to carry the rest of the mission, for he was his own team’s only and last hope. The fleeting faith, the running hope, the impending despair. He only needed to  _ burn _ it all. 

 

Inside of giant open-ceiling dome, it was commodious and only had trees inhabiting all the edges of the walls. Everything was a dead and empty space except for the center of it all. There was a stone-made throne where someone sat patiently. 

 

One second took for Ron to point his finger at the figure and have a fire dragon emit out of thin-air to maul them down.

 

Two seconds for the attack to completely kindle the person. 

 

Three seconds more for the fire dragon to dissipate at the swipe of Ron’s arm. 

 

“Ron here, nice to meet ya, Earth Shit.” Spitting on the floor, Ron turned on his heels and began to move away from the throne. “Not like it mattered to a corpse, but my codename is ‘Misery Never Burned Easy.’ ”

 

“Note taken,” a voice echoed throughout the arena. Ron turned quickly and noticed a giant swarm of locust coming his way.

 

It was so quiet but it was surely coming at him in full-force. Ron had no problem burning down the buggers. Taking care of the swarm, his eyes caught the figure at the throne still there. The person got up and bugs crawled to the floor from the body, which were what gave the pretense of somebody looking like the Earth King.

 

After the transformation revealed an image of a stranger wearing goggles with dark lens along with a black hoodie with a skull on the front of it. It was a male. It seemed the Earth King was never there in the first place. Ron sighed as he figured that much from an almost master runner. 

 

“They always told me that my weakness would come from fire,” the new opponent spoke, various species of insects coming out of his jacket, “ _ but _ I told them that I would find a way to snuff it out.” 

 

The matchup seemed unfair, but Ron was not going to let it slip out of his hands. He was ready to set flame to another generation of bugs that were going to come flying at him. Suddenly the ground shook and Ron lost his footing. 

 

“I told them that  _ my  _  bugs were different from the ones here. I was able to bring them to new evolutionary heights!” The guy spread his arms open as if he was letting go of something.

 

A large spike came out and impaled Ron through the chest, piercing through a wide area of his chest, then another came out and stabbed him through the back. There was something hiding below the surface, digging and waiting for prey to be right above it. Without a sign of attack or bloodthirst, a centipede of an enormous size destroyed the top layer of ground and swallowed up Ron, leaving no trace of the griever.

 

“You have met your faith, Mr. Fire-Runner. My Darwinism versus your Misery Never Burned Easy,” Charles chuckled as the monster-sized centipede slithered back down into its hole. The earth began to shift and cover up the traces of the giant insect, and Charles knew who was capable of doing that. “My Lord, you are safe now. The intruders are eliminated.”

 

Thomas appeared from a ground. He had chosen to hid deep within the earth itself while his newfound friends took care of the threat. Thomas was still unsure of how he felt about killing another person after he had regained his two separate consciousness. “Thank you, Charles. It would be better if you just called me Thomas.”

 

“No, no, the pleasure was mine!” Charles bowed in respect. “Besides, my Lord, I wouldn’t dare call you by any other name.”

 

“Please, just keep it casual between us. I’m not that special,” Thomas felt flattered by the gesture, though.

 

Maria and Bryan appeared from the entrance and made their presence known. Two strangers behind them followed up. The team that Thomas had been collecting to use to protect himself from the constant threat that WCKED posed as. They were known as the defenders of the Earth Kingdom, but Thomas found them to be better suited as the Six Wonders of the World. Although, he found it cheesy and unnecessary for mostly grown adults, they found it fitting. 


	3. Enter: The Three Sisters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter may come out longer than the others so far~ Please enjoy it as much as you guys can c: I also hope everyone out there is safe and doing well. Stay wonderful~

Minho was inside of the dome already, realizing the complete strength that Mr. Anderson possessed was monstrous. The fact that the old man had to only huff out a breath to break through the air grasp on his lungs. There was something about the man that told Minho  _ death _ would be inevitable if he sparred him too much without first improving himself.

 

The arena was quite multifunctional, and Minho’s head would probably explode along the way if someone explained the whole system behind the battle dome. There was apparently going to be three water grievers that were going to help him comprehend on how to shape the water and his energy together.

 

There was a flowing stream of water placed around the center where Minho was at. It was almost like an isolated space with the ring of water keeping him from escaping. The water erupted spontaneously and after the waves appeared three grievers. They seemed to be all females.

 

They all seemed to frown except for one that had a ridiculously large smile on her face. Minho had a feeling she was the strongest out of the three. Looking directly into the eyes of the smiling lady, “You’re the leader of this group, huh?”

 

“Great guess!” She happily responded. 

 

“I figured this much,” Minho stated. There was always something about smiles that were believable enough to cover the demon hiding behind the facade. 

 

The girls varied in size and ages — the youngest being the shortest; the middle child between the tallest and shortest; the oldest as the tallest. They were similar in looks. They had the black hair and brown eyes. The slightly tanned skin and same WCKED uniform. 

 

The only real distinguishment between them was the ID and the ilks of each female. The strongest one that responded to Minho was the middle child.

 

It had to be rough to have their middle sister as the top competitor. The shadow cast over the younger and older would only cause a drift among them. 

 

“First things first,” said the happiest female, “you can think of me as G0042. My eldest sister is G2000 and youngest is G1997.” The two frowning sisters nodded but never made eye contact with anything else but their shoes. 

 

G0042 began demonstrating her powers as the azure glow was apparent in her arms. “The flow of energy through the form of water is about being calm and letting things escape your body like drops of honey.”

 

It frankly sounded like general bullshit to Minho. He did not try to hide the smirk he had his face over the dull words. “I mean, I guess. I think it’s like wind, anyways.”

 

“Two—” the eldest sister spoke. The water behind them went afloat in the air on its own. 

 

“Different—” the youngest continued. The water canvas shifted to morph into a narrow and large figure. 

 

“Elements,” the eldest completed their sentence. The shape began to take the form of a dragon, and Minho was left speechless at such control.

 

The other two sisters were coming off as cautious but they were something to not be messed with. The middle sister began talking in their place, “They’re right. You cannot let your mind stay like that. As similar, the two elements are, they are still two  _ separate  _ elements with different purposes.”

 

The water dragon faced towards Minho and opened its mouth, shooting a torrent of high-pressured water at him. The wind-runner was pushed all the way past the ring of water until the force was weakened and left him rolling a few feet more. It was like being hit by a two firehoses. 

 

“Jesus,” Minho coughed off some of the liquid substance in his throat. They were seriously in trouble now. First regaining his conscious after being blasted, he picked himself up and walked back to the ring. 

 

Upon reaching the ring of water again, he walked over the surface without a problem. The three sisters, or at least the middle one, was impressed. Entering the ring once more, another memory burst through his brain uninvited. It was one of his favorite memories of Thomas.

 

The way the two of them were underwater because of Minho’s air bubble to provide them oxygen and safety. It was different to think about it; the way it comforted and motivated him to become better to get Thomas back to his side.

 

Not all the memories of someone were going to turn rotten. The good memories should  _ stay _ happy, funny, and generally a cherishable moment while the bad should  _ remind _ someone the flaws. There was no need to change the meaning of memories. 

 

“I won’t let you disappear,” Minho mumbled, commanding the water behind him to also float and take a form of something else. A person. It was specifically a male as well.

 

The battle was about to start. G0042 had to get something out of her throat before she spoke once more, “They call us Three Sisters, which is self-explanatory. Let’s see if you can handle my sisters first.”

 

The frowning siblings swung their arms around in sync. The water dragon moved accordingly to their hand motions, and it lunged forward to Minho with its jaws wide open. Minho controlled the water giant behind him to repel the dragon by holding its mouth suspended by the grip of his giant’s hands. The giant splashes covering up most of the field; the insane display of power.

 

_ I love you _ … 

 

It sounded too familiar. It sounded painful, but it was all Minho needed to keep striving to increase his own power. The giant ripped the dragon into two and then both entities exploded into a heavy rain. Minho made a stop motion with his hand, and all of the raindrops were frozen in place. It was almost as if he asked the wet element to kindly stand still.

 

Controlling water was like asking an adult nicely to do something for you such as moving out of the way. It was different from the wind. The free and wild element was always excited and ready to go where it pleased. Wind and water were similar only that they were elements, but they were unlike to each other. One as if it were an introvert and the other like an extrovert. 

 

The frowning sisters smiled for once, and the atmosphere was overwhelming with a pressure. It was so heavy that Minho could feel his stomach wanting to vomit his organs out. The new and smiling sisters swung their hands in opposite directions from the other sibling. The frozen droplets divided left and right like a curtain being pulled. The whole middle passage was open to Minho and G0042.

 

“Impressive, I can say,” G0042 glanced around to the scenery, “but you won’t  _ survive  _ out there.”

 

Instantly, all the droplets turned into needles, pointed at Minho, and launched at a high velocity to be able to do fatal damage. Minho combined his wind and water powers to stop the attack before it could touch him.

 

The needles vibrated until it broke out of Minho’s control and then came together to as a broad blade in G0042's hands. “Water can be violent,” G0042 mentioned, the remaining water that was left in the ring became like a geyser.

 

Minho tried to put his energy into the aquatic element, but it was too out of hand to maintain. In that second of not paying attention, G0042 sprung the blade forward, causing the weapon to shapeshift into tentacle to pull Minho forward unwillingly. 

 

She was precise of when to release her hold over him before swiftly turning the weapon back to its original blade form. As Minho rolled towards her, G0042 slammed the blade down with full-force. Minho luckily moved his head in time to dodge the attack.

 

As the blade sunk into the dome’s flooring, Minho had a taste of what fear was again. It was that unnerving feeling that death was approaching his way. The anxiety was tying him down to a chair and torturing his mentality. G0042 picked up her blade again to repeat the same action.

 

Minho rolled away once more. He got up and shook off the fear in hopes to keep fighting and living on. “That is quite a sharp water blade you got there.”

 

“I know,” G0042 agreed, swinging the weapon, sending out little water bullets at Minho as she tried to close the distance between them again. “Water isn’t just destructive. It’s the natural fuel for life to thrive!”

 

The projectiles were easy to dodge, but the distance that was fleeting between Minho and G0042 was starting to come out as a disadvantage. Minho was not a combatant in that area. 

 

She took another swing with her blade. Minho, fortunately, was nimble and able to move underneath the blade. However, despite dodging, the blade transformed into a war hammer the second it missed. It only took another second for G0042 to stop mid-swing and go in reverse for another hit. 

 

This time, Minho was caught off-guard and sent flying again. G2000 and G1997 were able to prevent Minho from escaping through the ring by providing a water net from the ring. Slamming the hammer weapon down, it cracked the ground on impact. G0042 spat at the floor but the same liquid began floating around her. “Mold things to your liking ‘cause water can take better shape and form than the wind can. The wind is silent but water is  _ loud _ .”

 

Minho knew he had to try to beat them using his water powers instead of the wind, but he was tempted to sweep them all by their feet. 

 

The way energy flowed  was strange as a concept to explain. Plants, herbivores, carnivores, and tertiary consumers were generally what made a food chain. Energy could only be retained by each trophic level by ten percent less of what it was original. There were other theories scientists found about the energy that was used until today.

 

However, the way the powers worked were complicated to explain. Some were simple science and observation while others left scientists of runners wondering if they should return their various PhDs and other degrees. 

 

The water propelling into the air stopped and returned to its calm state. Everything slowly returned to what it was. The Three Sisters stood aligned in their order as soon way before a clapping echoed throughout the dome. Minho was flabbergasted at what had happened. 

 

It was Chancellor Anderson. He seemed pleased at what he was seeing until the frown replaced his smile. “Are you holding back?” The question was referred to the sisters.

 

“N-No!” G0042 replied timidly. The other sisters could only let their strongest sibling talk as they cowered to the presence of the Chancellor. 

 

“I’m not really convinced because Minho here needs to be put towards his absolute limit. A beast’s teeth should be sharpened, not dulled.”

 

“Uh,” Minho had to butt in. “I think they were pretty rough on me as it was.”

 

“Do not jest with me,” Kevin scoffed, pointing his finger at the lined-up sisters. “I’ll  _ really _ show you how strong they can be.”

 

G0042 gave Minho a sorry look before her head was engulfed in a nasty amethyst mist. The other two had their heads also consumed by the same mist. Their bodies twitched and jolted. Once the mist faded into nothing, the sisters all had an insane look on their sporadically jerky bodies. It spelled danger to Minho and the ring of water flipped back to its white flooring.

 

“Let’s enjoy and make ourselves stronger, Minho,” Kevin left the comment without waiting for a reply. “Don’t be afraid to hold back either.”

 

“The Whisperer of the Damned, that’s his name,” G0042 spoke, the arena taking another change.

 

More water. Great. Multiple pools were located around the dome. It did not help that they were also close to where the battle was going to begin between Minho and Three Sisters. Could they have placed the pools in like a corner away from them? Oh well… 

 

Minho was surely lucky facing strong opponents after another. But what did Kevin do to those water grievers? His powers did something to those girls’ mentality to make them sinister and demonic. Was that what happened to Minho when he faced Kevin?

 

“Hehehe, let’s make it rain in blood,” said the eldest sister, holding hands with the rest of her sisters and gleefully skipping with them.

 

“Yes, my sister, let’s,” said the youngest, laughing with the most sincere sound.

 

Finally, the last sister spoke. “Your fate gets cut here, Minho.” 

 

The pools all around began to spin to the sisters’ movement. It twisted, pulled, shifted until each droplet was able to bond clearly with each other and made multiple copies of blank-faced people out of the water. They varied in gender but they were obviously dancing like ballerinas onstage. 

 

The sisters began singing a song in unison. “One sister is a half while the other is the step.” It could have been beautiful if it were not a battlefield. “One sister is the real and other sister is  _ dead _ …”

 

What?

 

The entities that were swaying, doing plies and sautes, leaping gracefully into the air before they became at a standstill. Inside of Minho’s head, he thought that the Three Sisters were actually four. Was there always something dark behind everyone’s past?

 

Minho was unsure of how long it was before his heart became numb to all the misery in the world. “It’s going to rain today, Minho,” G0042 deadpanned her words.

 

Every single figure turned its head at the wind-runner. As forewarned, dark clouds started sprouting around the ceiling until it covered a large radius of the dome and rained upon all of them. Minho was drenched in it and felt something cold down his spine that was not just the sudden drop in temperature. 

 

G0042 was directly behind him, caressing his exposed neck. “Hi there,” her low pitch blew through his skin.

 

Quick to act, Minho elbowed her but was disgusted to find his arm being sucked into her stomach. She laughed until she revealed herself to be one of the water entities that were around. Every entity took the form of either the youngest, middle or the eldest sister. It was like being in one of those mirror houses.

 

Minho blasted a small radius around him with wind, then he created an air bubble around him to keep the rain from drenching him more than it had to. The temperature was something else, though. It was continuously turning colder.

 

If he fought too long out there, hypothermia would eventually enervate his strength. All the figures began running away towards a certain distance that was across from where Minho was standing. He noticed that they were combining together until it was a giant octopus-like creature out of pure water. In the dead center of the beast were the Three Sisters. 

 

****

 

Nyx was walking by Chancellor Anderson’s side. Their heels emitting a clicking noise upon the tiles. Kevin was planning something, as always, in his head about the impending battle between WCKED and Earth Kingdom. Nyx was reading from a tablet on the statistics of their current griever population. “We can’t keep sending more of our grievers down there. We will just keep losing more of our troops.”

 

“I know. I do not plan to send more than necessary down there,” Kevin shrugged plainly, “but we can send the weaker ranks there to collect data on our enemies.”

 

“Our specialist has analyzed the new data collected from the three grievers that were lost recently,” Nyx added to the conversation. “It seems there is a ribbon-runner, psychic-runner, and a bug-runner defending the kingdom.”

 

“Well, if the king of the kingdom is not sitting on the throne, is it really a throne?” Kevin stopped walking once he was in front of a locked door. He placed his ID on the scanner on the left and observed the red light flash green. 

 

“Are you implementing that we are not looking for Earth King in the right places?” Nyx retorted. She walked inside after Kevin into the control room. Numerous people on desktops and working on regulating all of the systems at WCKED.

 

“Pull up the rough diagram of the Earth Kingdom from what our data obtained so far!” Kevin announced, hearing a lot of people tapping at their keyboard in unison until a giant hologram appeared at the center of the room where it was least vacant of workers. “There, at where the throne is.”

 

The room was ultimately silence. They were dumbfounded at the information and did not how to process it in their heads. “Excuse me, sir,” Nyx broke the ice. “What are we looking for?”

 

Kevin smirked. “The  _ real  _ throne is underneath it. Earth King would never leave such a voluminous room to be easily attacked in. He placed it there to be a decoy and to leave people confused.” 

 

Kevin took a small breather seeing that there were still a few faces that expressed confusion. “If he had been able to hide underground before and never been caught, why not do it again?”

 

At that point, everyone was beginning to share the same expression. The lambent lights around the room created a functional yet dull work environment. There was no purpose of outside music besides the sounds that were coming from their keyboards. New plans were being compiled and evaluated by the Chancellor to see which was best to implement in their situation. 

 

As the control room was being worked to create high-quality strategies, Minho was fending off as many of the watery tentacles as he could. The Three Sisters were ruthless and relentless, for their attacks were slowly overpowering Minho, smacking and causing quakes in its strike.

 

Minho blew the water off of one of the tentacles to only have it regenerate itself. He could hold one entire tentacle thanks to his water and wind powers, but it would be easily be overwhelmed by the Three Sisters’ energy. They were seriously something else.

 

“We swear we looked,” they all talked in unison for once, “but we couldn’t find you. It was too late before you ended on the news. Another name on a tombstone to us.”

 

Their combined voice was resonating throughout the arena. Their despair and agony were fueling their powers. A corruption in the databank was what was going on to Minho. The Three Sisters were plagued with something that was causing them to relive their past as they fight. The only time runners’ powers should typically reach that type of level would be when they first awaken their powers after the lunar eclipse event. 

 

It was as if they were a running cassette tape with the film being scattered and unorganized. “Hey!” Minho called out, hoping that reasoning could help. “Are you girls okay?”

 

“No!” They shouted back, slamming another one of their tentacles down upon Minho. He was able to dodge it in time, though. “The Girl Underneath Black Waters.”

 

“That doesn’t sound good,” Minho gave himself more distance from them, predicting an attack unlike from before to happen.

 

The beast of clear blue water became darkened like night. It was so murky and sinister-looking that Minho could feel the rain clouds being warmer than what was behind that water. The water pulled away from the clouds and all the droplets were being vacuumed into the black blob. 

 

If there was anything that Minho had learned from working under W.I.C.K.E.D. as a griever, it was that there was usually a codename for someone and also names for certain attacks. He also figured from the past experience he had with them.

 

There should also be a meaning behind all the names WCKED has for its members. However, the codename Minho did not like hearing, especially for someone that had the least threatening name, was Chancellor Anderson — the Whisperer of the Damned. 

 

A jolt rushed through Minho’s body as he remembered what Kevin was able to do to him. It was terrifying.

 

“Min,” a soft voice called but was louder than it should be because of the emptied and quiet dome, “ho.”

 

A large hand, made from the same substance that the black blob was made out of, came out and bolted towards Minho. Subconsciously, Minho sliced the hand in half with his air-manipulation. There was something strange about the water because there was no way Minho could control it. 

 

His powers could not touch the blackened water as if it were a whole new substance to mankind. It was almost as if the murky liquid was not water at all. In an instant, the sliced hand regenerated itself and took Minho by surprise.

 

From the wrist of the arm of the entity, a woman in the same substance gently came out of it. A cold, black face with no expression on it. A mouth and smile appeared, and it gave Minho chills. It was too familiar to what he experienced before.

 

The teeth became frozen solid and sharpened itself. It was going to eat his face off! The sludgy woman pressed forward with jaws wide open. “Not today!” Minho quickly took a big breath in and then blew it through his mouth.

 

He was able to manipulate the power strength of his breath, causing it to be at the same strength as a strong whirlwind. Thanks to Minho’s wits, he was able to repel and destroy the monster woman. 

 

However, it came back to life and went back into the wrist. It must have known there was no point of fighting him without a better foray. The hand tightly grasping Minho became ice, then it broke off from the wrist and recreated the hand again. 

 

“How troublesome,” Minho sighed.

 

Strong — that was what Minho was. He was definitively and absolutely strong. He believed in himself that he could get out of the mess he was in. He could save himself. He had to save himself. He had to let  _ go _ of the doubts that were lurking and playing in the dark in his mind.

 

The hand moved and turned the fingertips into razor blades. It slashed forward, aiming to cut Minho dead. Minho felt stuck in time. The end would come to his story if this hand came down upon him without any counterattack. A small hint of giving up was still present in his body, and he endeavored to rid it.

 

But it was latched like a parasite. Minho had to think calmly and rationally, but it was proving to be difficult with the darkness in him getting stronger. 

 

_ I believe in you, Minho. _

 

Who was that?

 

Minho recognized the voice belonging to someone very cherished in his heart. Like the light it was, it was guiding his darkness to oblivion to make room for all the beautiful illumination to fill Minho’s weary heart. “Got it,” Minho did his usual smirk. 

 

Time resumed; Minho touched the frozen material with his palm and transformed the block of ice into a giant blade. He clashed edges with the hand before he overpowered it easily and proceeded to decimate it.

 

Everything in his body was burning with a determination that he did not have before. Clasping his weapon together, he pulled together another fabrication: a long spear. He aimed it at the center of the blob, where the arm was returning to.

 

“I’ll help you, girls, out,” was the last words that came out of Minho’s mouth before he sent the spear at the Three Sisters.

 

The spear protruded through the surface of the blob without difficulty. Its brusque greeting was met with open hands before it stopped its motion. The tip was still outside and shook a little before it was still. A sister came out. The youngest holding onto Minho’s spear.

 

“I,” her voice weakened for some reason. Her body also twitched as Minho could tell she was crying recently, “can’t go on like them. I’m weaker, but I won’t let you hurt them. Besides, it was all too painful.”

 

“Fuck Kevin,” she spoke in her truest intentions. The spear transformed into a bouquet of flowers out of ice. She subtly smiled and collapsed along with the flowers. A section of the blob behind her was spazzing out before it retained control. 

 

The dark sphere of water made a metamorphosis into a large-scale woman. Its motherly arms and hands caressed the fallen sister and held her to its chest. It sucked her inside and moved its hands to cover its face as if it were mourning. 

 

“Hey, I think this fight is over,” Minho confessed, putting his hands behind his neck.

 

“No, it is not,” Kevin made his presence known again. He was by the entrance and was undetected by them until later.

 

The black waters were moving into a sphere in the hands of the woman remanent that the Three Sisters made. The water was being purified and all the sludge-like substance was collected into that sphere before the center of the forehead was the sisters themselves. The eldest holding the youngest in her arms while the middle had a vengeful expression. “You!” G0042 pointed at Kevin. “You did this to our beloved sister!”

 

Kevin smiled gently as he spoke, “The weak can only be consumed by—”

 

“Fuck you!” G0042 shouted despite that not being enough to calm her rage. She made the sphere transform into the same spear of ice that Minho had made earlier. “Take everything back!” She articulated loudly before making the creature’s hand grasp the item and hurl it at Kevin.

 

“I’ll applaud you for finally being able to purify the effects of my powers on you guys.  _ But _ ,” Kevin held his hand out and made the spear stop in mid-motion. “I can still control this as long as it has my essence in it.”

 

The ice cracked before it shattered like a vase falling on a stone flooring. Kevin motioned the shards in a peculiar way as if they were puppets on a string to him. Left to right, the broken pieces glistened from night black to amethyst purple.

 

“Kevin, what are you?” Minho subconsciously said aloud. 

 

The Chancellor chuckled for a moment, collecting his thoughts on how to respond. He swirled his finger, motioning the pieces of his essence in the same way. He transitioned the shards into a liquid then a gas. It disappeared without a trace afterward. 

 

There was something enjoyable seeing his own underlings slowly resisting. Their hope, fears, joy, and determination were all significant emotions to carry as a human being,  _ but _ Kevin knew there was nothing more than he wanted to manipulate and slowly pick off than those certain emotions. If he could create a void big enough to contain all those emotions, enough to snatch what makes them human, Kevin could make them numb beyond belief. A world of oblivion would be utmost wonderful to the Chancellor.

 

“You all need to sleep now,” Kevin announced orders, “and we will look forward to more surprising events from all of you.” 

 

“Fuc-, wait, huh?” G0042 was wavering. She found her body drifting without her permission. The other sister that was holding their already passed out sibling was collapsing to the floor.

 

“This isn’t a question to debate on,” Kevin walked away with his hand slightly glowing in its disgusting color. Minho hated to admit that he was also getting sleepy. Drowsiness attacking his mind and nerves, it was beginning to inhibit his ability to move. How did no one sense something? 

 

Minho was sure if there was something in the air that was wrong that he could detect it. This was too subtle from the radar. Then Minho pinpointed the exact moment they all were infected with something. “You bastard, Kevin,” the Asian was on his knees, struggling to hold his state any longer. “When you transformed… the shards into a gas, it was… uh…. There when this ha-happened.” 

 

“Expected you to get that faster,” Kevin confessed, giving Minho vision of his back, “but no matter. Regardless, you are correct. A dragon can only stay awake for so long before returning to a great slumber.” 

 

_ Screw this guy _ , Minho thought to himself as his mind faded to black.


	4. We Hide Behind a Mirror to Reflect What Others Want From Us

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeaaah, it has been a while and w/ school starting tomorrow. I have to start getting my shit together and whatnot. Life this summer has been frankly amazing, and I think I really needed to be around good family that I trust and also friends. They really made this summer come out to be the way I always dreamt of doing it. I loved every moment of it and would go back to do it all over again.
> 
> Updates may come slower than they should bc of college and whatnot. I'm not really sure who is keeping up w/ this story tbh, but I want to keep going bc this is something I've been working diligently as I could. So anyone that has been w/ me on this story, thank you so much!

Thomas was at a stone table he created with his fellow members. The Six Wonders of the World were patiently waiting to speak when Thomas wanted noise other than silence to fill the room. Thomas sighed seeing that he was nothing too serious of a leader, besides the position of something other than an observer was still new to him. 

 

Thomas looked at the table he was able to conjure up on his own, questioning on how dexterous was he with his powers. He barely got his mind back together as one, and yet the powers were very easy to use. It surprised him how much he could control, frankly.

 

A cough came from Bryan, and Thomas looked up subconsciously before realizing he had a meeting to complete. “Oh right,” Thomas awkwardly smiled, “I, uh, need everyone to understand that W.I.C.K.E.D. are possibly sending those weaker grievers to analyze all of your powers. Thus, I need you all to be prepared for counterattacks of any kind.”

 

Was that leader-sounding words? Did that encourage and inspire his only working team?

 

“You heard our  _ great  _ leader,” Maria snickered, getting up along in the process. “It was a pleasure to chat with y’all, but a lady has to attend to her quarters for some shuteye.”

 

Bugs began blocking the doorway, and Maria was disgusted by the intrusion. She looked back at Charles and expressed a tired-with-your-shit look. She pulled back her stole and released it forward, having it fly at Charles at a speed as fast and strong as an American football player tackling another player.

 

Of course, Charles did not want some woman upstage him, so he forced up a wall of his bugs to defend against the string of fabric. “A world without order is not a world I am fighting for,” the stranger that was seated between the dispute murmured. Paper wings appeared on their back and blew everything away.

 

Bugs scattered all over the place while Maria’s stole was dragged away from her shoulders. Thomas and the rest of the members were unfazed by the sudden draft. “Dolores Catena,” Thomas had to intervene, and the wings that she had began to disappear and head back into her body.

 

Maria and Charles apologized to all their members since they each knew their place in their ranking. Dolores was Second Wonder. Maria and Charles being Fourth and Third Wonders respectively. Bryan was the Sixth Wonder. The other, not talkative member, she was still new, was placed at fifth. 

 

“The meeting is dismissed. Everyone, please take care of yourself,” Thomas announced softly, knowing it would be heard regardless of volume. They each dropped into a pothole that Thomas had made and forced them out. 

 

He made tunnels that would lead each of them to their rooms respectively without engaging into unnecessary contact with each other. They still had disagreements amongst themselves about who would be the better position of ranking. They also knew there was still something about Mona that no one wanted to exactly challenge yet. 

 

Once alone, Thomas leaned into his stone chair and relaxed. He knew that Charles could still monitor any room as long as his bugs were in the area, so Thomas also went underground to a secret tunnel that led to his _real_ headquarters. He found himself to truly relax there knowing all his happy memories were locked safely in there. 

 

A stone head that resembled Minho was smiling as brightly as the real on the wall farthest from Thomas. Although, the real Minho was better to look at than some statue. There would be kisses and tickle fights with that beautiful man.

 

Thomas sighed as he had his back against the wall and wondered what Minho was doing. There was no stars or night sky to stare at in tranquility, but it was the silence that was enough for Thomas. “I’ll find you,” Thomas took it as an oath to himself, shaking the room with his mind. 

 

He was not exactly stable himself. It was a lot of power and concentration to form the maze. It was also exhausting to gain more energy to commit more acts of extreme power. That was all it was to Thomas: superpowers that were abused by people.

 

There was no airflow inside, but Thomas could always fix that without a doubt. Although there was not much to his room besides that fact that he kept the Paradise basin that the waterfall had at the bottom of it. Bringing back good memories with his boyfriend, Thomas smiled in hopes to be reunited with his lover. 

 

Then it hit him again… 

 

The betrayal and hurt on Minho’s face when the boyfriend found out that Thomas was Earth King. It hurt as bad as a baby being wrongly spanked. It hurt in a wrong way like how police brutality affected black lives. It was gross and devouring the conscious of Thomas. 

 

He tried to stop them, but they hurt so fucking bad. Thomas could feel the tears coming forth again, and he remembered Minho’s advice from long ago. 

 

_ Don’t let a happy memory of someone go bad and vice versa. The happy are there to let you know that the good things that happened while the bad reminds you what needed to be aware of and improved on.  _

 

“You’re right. You’re right,” Thomas was calming down again. He settled his emotions down and noticed the statue of Minho frowning with what looked like tears out of stone trying to roll down despite not moving at all.

 

Thomas made more sighs and changed the statue to its original smiling state. 

 

****

 

A week later, Nyx was reading on another news report that Earth Kingdom had taken Nevada and Arizona to be assimilated into its growing faction. Only some of the majority of both states were able to evacuate. She rolled her eyes as to seeing that a young man like Thomas was only going to get stronger each elapsing day.

 

She opened a door labeled as ‘Danger’ in the typical red letters. It portrayed something like a room similar to one in a mental asylum. “The Mirror of the World,” Nyx started talking to someone that was locked up in a straightjacket and had their eyes and mouth restrained. “Griever ID No.: G0003.”

 

“Mmph!” The griever struggled against the restraints and was crying out muffled sounds. 

 

“I have special permission from the Chancellor himself to use your powers for something,” Nyx calmly spoke to the other person’s eye. Her thick accent to present with her. “But I have to have you under my complete watch, so it might complicate the mission a little.”

 

Nyx unfolded and took off the cloth gagging the female griever. Nyx looked over at the woman that was no older than her mid-twenties. She obviously plotted for her escape now that she had been released from her restraints, but Nyx knew better than to leave loopholes in her plans.

 

“I, Glados, open—” Mirror of the World shouted. 

 

Nyx responded immediately with chains out of the white lighting of the room. About a hundred of chains locked up Glados once again. It kept her in place enough for Nyx to explain the plan that she prepared for the two of them. “I expect you to listen once to this. If you follow through with it, I can let you  _ free _ .”

 

“You’re serious, huh?” Glado gave an expression for Nyx that indicated that Nyx was finally going rogue. The history of these two seemed to go back longer than one would expect. “It was Charon, wasn’t it?”

 

“Don’t speak of him,” Nyx quietly sighed, shaking her head to the name of someone that she found to be so close to her heart unlike any other.

 

“Whatever, as long as I get freedom, it’s a deal,” Glados simply stated, directing her attention to the right wall despite it containing nothing of real interest.

 

Nyx undid her powers and let the chains disappear, giving Glados a free chance to escape again. “I’ll show you a map of Earth Kingdom, and you can easily take me to where I want to go.”

 

The two nodded at each other before Glados began chanting again, “I, Glados, open thee.” A mirror appeared on the wall behind her, and it’s reflection blinked in a second as if it were awaiting for a response.

 

Nyx pulled out a virtual map from her watch and allowed Glados to analyze the positioning. Nyx also pointed to where she wanted to be transferred. The power difference between Nyx and Glados in traveling into certain rifts in the fabric of space was tremendous. Nyx could only transfer herself from one form of light to another in a certain distance. It also cost a lot of her strength to completely send her body, and especially a group, to a location of her choice.

 

However, Glados could go anywhere she wanted effortlessly. As long her eyes had seen it somewhere, she could go to it as soon as possible. It also was able to take as many people to where she wanted them as long as the portal she opened stayed still.

 

The early grievers were usually the most powerful in terms of ability usage. It soon was decided that she needed to be contained until extreme emergencies for her powers to be used by the Chancellor. She could not escape with Nyx and Charon around, so she went along with the recourse and was locked up until she forgot time itself.

 

It was finally her time to escape for good. No going back. No more people stopping her trying to be free. Nyx must had something done to her to want to go to this Earth Kingdom, but Glados cared little to what the place held for them.

 

The mirror reflected an image of an earth dome. It showed the center of it while Nyx began walking towards it. The first thing she noticed the major change in atmosphere as it went to room temperature to mildly chilled. The artificial lighting was nothing in comparison to the sunlight that permeated the area. Glados was the last to walk through the mirror before it shut itself up. “This is the place, right?” Glados had to confirm she was not rusty with her powers.

 

“Yes,” Nyx agreed, staring at the throne that was placed at the center as it basked in blinding sunlight. Five holes were revealed around the same throne, and five runners showed up like how a musician onstage would slowly elevate from underneath to the surface.

 

“My, my, what do we have here?” Maria was piqued by the sudden intrusion.

 

“Quick to act,” Glados commented, staying right behind Nyx for protection. 

 

Nyx was going to follow through and eliminate her targets to get to Thomas. She was done letting that man take everything in the world as if he was the ruler. She was tired of him being omnipotent. She wanted him  _ dead _ .

 

“Our majesty would not let this kingdom be attacked so easily,” Charles began ranting on about their leader.

 

Bryan pulled as many of the pebbles from the ground as he can and used her powers to launch them at Nyx as soon as possible to end the showdown. As it came at her, Glados opened her mirror to the ocean and everyone watched as the pebbles were sent into the depths of the sea without returning.

 

The defense from Glados provided Nyx reassurance that she was not alone on this fight. “For old times sake,” Nyx smiled genuinely for once. Glados scoffed before nodding her head to the words.

 

Maria took her stole and held it tightly, glancing at Charles before they nodded in unison to each other. She threw it forward and the cloth stretched in its beautifully yellow silk at Nyx. The light griever snatched the stole easily and thought of what a joke it was to have an utterly useless power.

 

Until something bit her hand, she looked carefully at the cloth and noticed the fabric moving on its own again. It almost looked like scales on a snake, but it was actually the yellow shells of multiple bugs on the cloth.

 

“You are out of your league, miss,” Charles snickered to himself, “the venom should be going to your heart in a matter of minutes if you cannot find an antidote to it.”

 

It was Nyx’s turn to laugh as she noticed that her arm was losing feeling. “Darwinism, Bewitching Flower of Passion, Messenger of the Kingdom, and the mysterious two runners,” Nyx was tapping her feet to an unknown beat. “Let the clash of real power begin.”   
  


A light came down that was more blinding than the sun, and then Nyx walked forward out of the ring of purifying energy. It gave her the strength to fight as much as it cured her arm of the numbness it was feeling earlier. Charles chuckled to Maria as it really did seem like the fight was only starting.

 

“Maria, Charles, follow my lead,” Bryan led the two of them as they began closing the space between them and Nyx. The two other runners stayed behind to keep the throne safe because it seemed like Nyx knew where to find Thomas.

 

“Heaven’s Final Judgement — No Light Without Darkness,” Nyx murmured, instantly turning the field over to the same pure light that no eye could stare into for even a second. 

 

Glados looked at the form and noticed how different it was. It sent chills down her own spine to see her old comrade to come up with such a form. She realized there was a gap she needed to fill between her and Nyx, but it still impressed her that Nyx was more powerful than before.

 

The angelic wings were flapping the same feather across the field; blobs of shadows appearing all around Nyx as it readied to attack anything that came close. Her burning scythe still the same as it was before when Nyx fought Thomas. 

 

Maria slapped away as many shadows with her cloth as she could. The yellow fabric swinging elegantly through the air as it smacked the living energy out of each familiar. Nyx pointed her scythe at Maria and fired a ray of penetrating light. Immediately on the defensive, Maria twirled as fast as she could to wrap herself in her cloth.

 

Undoing the tightly wrapped fabric on Maria’s body, she spoke, “Your light really packs a punch.”

 

Nyx scoffed as she shot another beam at Maria. Midway the beam stopped because of Bryan holding the motion off with his powers. Maria took the opportunity to wrap her stole around the entire beam, stretching and swirling around the energy like an ice cream machine dispensing its goods.

 

Seeing no reason to allow the cloth to come into contact with Nyx again, she stopped her attack. Surprisingly, the fabric crushed the energy right out of the beam since it parted from her weapon. Maria’s cloth was something else to wonder about.

 

“Maria, don’t hold back!” Charles mentioned, having three large dragonflies accompany his sides. The bugs shot a stream of venomous needles at Nyx. Behind Glados, the giant centipede came about through the surface of the ground. With two large clear black eyes, it opened its saliva-filled mouth at Glados before retracting its body back. 

 

Glados wanted to try something the second the centipede pushed each section of its body forward in an attempt to maul her down. However, Bryan had his mind over her body and made it unable to function the way she wanted it to.

 

“Rain of Light!” Nyx shouted, forcing down a shelling of pure light down upon the humongous insect. It went down, but the attack did not seem to penetrate through its exoskeleton. It had to be stronger by tenfold than steel.

 

The shadow-version of Charon looked over Nyx’s shoulder and created a shield of solid dark matter that stopped the needles from hitting the light-runner. The recondite situation was causing Nyx to see that she had to  _ really  _ deliver a blow to the dome to get to her real destination.

 

Nyx blew a whirlwind with her six wings and made an array of razor feathers fly towards Bryan. Unable to keep his control over Glados, the psychic-runner had to switch his attention to the offensive coming at him.

 

As the centipede tried to raise its head again, Glados summoned her mirror and picked the ocean to appear through the reflection again. As the insect’s head entered the mirror, Glados instantly closed the portal and watched as she offed the most important part of its body. Blood gushed in gallons all over the battlefield.

 

Glados noticed that the ground was melting or more like being eaten away by the blood and realized it was actually acidic. “Nyx, don’t let it touch you with that blood.” 

 

“Got it.” The light-runner pulled the darkness from each of the shadows of Bryan, Maria, and Charles. “Forbidden Secret—”

 

It was a move that Charon and Glados used to do together, but it seemed that it was able to be used with Nyx as well. W.I.C.K.E.D. had truly accomplished combining two runners together. Glados finished the rest of the name as she summoned a giant mirror. “Laughing at Shadows!”

 

The darkness from the three Wonders pooled inside of the mirror until the reflection showed the trio. Their shadow clones walked out of the mirror and had a sinister smile and motioned their body movements as if they were snickering. 

“If you think these clones can recreate my bugs, you got another thing to look out for,” Charles threatened, sending forth a swarm of locust at the two grievers.

 

The Shadow Charles also copied his move and observed the two swarms as each bug devoured the other. It was impossible to replicate Charles’ powers easily, but they were obviously equal in strength. It was going to be interesting how he could get his bugs to overwhelm the new enemy.

 

Meanwhile, Glados nodded at Nyx as she opened another mirror reflecting the throne behind the trio that were distracted by their doubles. “Good luck, I can handle at least this much.”

 

“Reliable until the end, huh?” Nyx walked into the mirror without a doubt. The remaining two of the five defenders were guarding the throne still. 

 

As the fight resumed behind Nyx, she felt a disturbance in terms of energy between the two of them. It was like walking into a forest at night while a predator locked its hungry eyes at you. Both were women, but they were clearly unfazed by the appearance that Nyx had. 

 

“You will be lucky to get through us,” Dolores spoke proudly and seriously. She was not having Nyx’s shit at that moment.

 

“Come forth, runner. Be ready to face my wrath.” Nyx initiated the two with a volley of light orbs. Dolores received a direct hit from all the balls, but she seemed too calm as the light disappeared inside of her body.

 

It obviously penetrated through, but it did not seem like she was in any sort of pain. Instead, her body warped into itself expanded and exploded into thousands of pieces of paper. A voice was able to echo throughout the arena for Nyx to hear. “I, Bridge of Hope, will be your opponent now. Come, darkness.”

 

On a command of Dolores, the falling paper instantly folded into shurikens and spun itself all at Nyx. Seeing an opening for a counterattack, Nyx made the field rain in light arrows to stop the movement of most of the shurikens. A few were able to still pass through and inflict small cuts on Nyx’s wings.

 

Through the smoke of her attack, Nyx was able to see the remaining paper pooling together to manifest the embodiment of a person; Dolores was fabricated once more. The paper, a subtle and fragile item, was proving to be a challenge to literal light.

 

“Hope. It is not something I wish to come for, but I will not let you take this kingdom away so kindly,” the other stranger in a black hoodie made her voice known.

 

“Mona, do you really wish to engage in combat this time?” Dolores confirmed with her comrade.

 

Revealing her true face, her skin tone reflecting a little of the sun’s light from her beautifully brown skin. Her eyes were filled with an intense determination that Nyx felt was bad news. Mona held her hand up as if she was a conductor, and she calmly stated, “Yes, and I will use my ‘All Things End’ with you.”

 

Her arm glowed in a cosmic energy that was similar in color to galaxy photos on Google images. Mona pulled Nyx into the air before dropping her in the next second. Nyx attempted to fly upwards, but Mona defined the gravity-field. It was what made her powerful and a Wonder. 

 

The light-runner’s back was being pushed against by an unseeable force. It weighed as much as a steel beam and yet there was nothing there. It had to be gravity itself that Mona could control, and Nyx could see how the situation quickly turned problematic for her.

 

She had no choice but let the Shadow Charon go on its own. The dark being expanded enough to fight and push off the manipulated gravity in the way. It was practically a giant monster on its own, but fake Charon was pitiful for its master. It released a strong breath of dark energy at Dolores and Mona while Nyx blinked out of sight. 

 

As the misdirection went on, Nyx spun around with her wings in the air as she reappeared. She spun down as fast as she could like a drill. She fortified her wings with the sunlight to be able to brace the impact that was coming as she rushed downwards from the sky. 

 

The throne was destroyed and left behind a hole from Nyx’s digging. Dolores and Mona were about to jump down until the shadows from the hole burst like a geyser, pushing them back a few feet. Shadow Charon was not letting them go after Nyx without a fight. 

 

“Your light will end,” Mona spat at the dirt caught on her tongue.

 

“The shadows will disappear,” Dolores added her thoughts as well.

 

**** 

 

As Nyx penetrated deep into the earth, she reached a layer that she fell through. It was surely commodious, and yet it was filled with a peaceful atmosphere. Bushes were growing along the sides while at the far end had a basin that was connected to a waterfall. 

 

She knew she found the real throne. It was where Thomas had to be. Nyx made her presence known in case it was not already found out. “Thomas, you coward, come on out!”

 

“It would have been better to knock, to be honest,” Thomas’ voiced echoed from the other side. Nyx kept her attention forward as she watched as a figure from a distance was becoming larger.

 

Until Thomas was distanced at a good amount from where Nyx drilled through, they decided to continue talking. Air flow was small but not enough for a few people to survive for long hours. It smelled heavily of dirt and soil, yet it was also had a hint of fresh water in the room.

 

“I will let our differences finally be settled,” Nyx mentioned, probably referring back to the murder of her lover.

 

“Sounds reasonable. I won’t stop you,” Thomas retorted gently.

 

A real battle was about to be initiated between the two. Thomas thought about it being unpleasant as he already could determine the winner from the dispute that went on above on the surface. He sighed as he figured there was no purpose of complaining about something that was inevitable.

 

Succorance could have been nice for the two of them. It would honestly heal a lot of things in Thomas’ life, but he supposed it was not an awful idea to simply  _ snuff  _ out the life from people. “I won’t let you go without being on the verge of death, Nyx.”

 

“I was going to say the same thing to you!” Nyx began her onslaught of bullets of light at Thomas. An earth wall manifested upon the field. Typical.

 

She increased her power potential in her attack to see if she could break through. Endeavoring a minute had proved to her that she did not need to resume with her original thought. She took her time to pick an effective attack as she saw that Thomas did nothing but defend.

 

As she prepared to swipe her scythe at Thomas, the male had already made a move. The earth near Nyx rose in a small portion and made its own handcuff for Nyx to have around her wrist. The grasp it had forced her to let go of her weapon, which sunk into the floor like quicksand.

 

“I don’t think this will go the same way it did before,” Thomas stated as if he were almost sad at the attempt of a fight that Nyx was putting up. “You see, I’m whole again.”

 

He waved a single finger in the air as the earth began preparing an iron maiden. It did not occur to Nyx that she was cornered to a near death. Once the door closed altogether, she would be seeing Charon soon enough. She still had some vengeance inside of her, and Nyx was not going to let Thomas get away just yet.

 

She pulled shadows around the room to her location and enveloped herself with it. The substance torn off the shackles of earth and gave Nyx her freedom again. She fabricated her scythe back to her hands. The aura radiating off of the sharpened blade became flames of blackness.

 

She slashed the air and the shockwave of dark energy was coming at Thomas. He sidestepped the attack without flaw. The earth-runner found nothing impressive still. “I want to know what Minho had been up to, Nyx.”

 

“Like you can get me to talk right now,” Nyx argued, launching more waves of her power at him.

 

“Don’t make this hard on me. I already have a lot of shit to deal with.” 

 

“Then as the typical American says, fuck you,” Nyx nastily spat. 

 

Thomas sighed, knowing it would be like this with her. She was still carrying the same anger and sadness in her heart that Thomas almost pitied her for it. Pain was as fickle as a bubble, never knowing when to pop. The ex-researcher pulled his hands together as he figured he showed her power was stagnating because of her emotions.

 

“It’s true that emotions can make you strong,” Thomas began his speech, twisting the very ground he walked on, “but too much emotion can swallow you and spit out all your bones.”

 

She blinked out of sight and reappeared in front of him, ready to strike him down with her razor weapon. Nyx did not care for words from the man that killed her only true happiness and light. “For Charon!”

 

“For  _ nothing _ ,” Thomas retorted, interrupting the attack by moving his hands fast enough to choke Nyx. “You see, I  _ hate  _ W.I.C.K.E.D. for what they had done to me and other people. Those that support that cause need to either rethink and join my side, go a new way, or be killed.”

 

“I. Ka! Ugh!” Nyx had trouble trying to say something and surprised that Thomas was definitively not like how he was before.

 

“You see,” Thomas almost expressed a crazy-eye at Nyx, “I thought I was running from a monster when in reality, I  _ was  _ the monster. I’m not innocent anymore, and nor do I want to be blind to my actions anymore.”

 

Nyx was coughing and gasping for sweet air. “You sicko!”

 

Thomas sighed and figured she was right to an extent.  _ Then _ again, it was time he allowed himself to have a little fun to spill the truth out of her veins. A large block of earth appeared behind Nyx and strapped her against it. Binding her tightly, she was unable to use most of her body besides her head.

 

“I want to show you something,” Thomas smiled as harmless as he could be. However, the part of innocent was far beyond his reach at that point. “Tell me more about my boyfriend before I snap your arm off like how I did it to  _ Charon _ .”

 

The light-runner stagnated in heartbeat. A winnowing her  little heartstrings to his delight. It was not like she had much to lose, anyway. Thomas took away her man, and she was still everything to herself. Nyx was herself and was alone as she was when she was born in this world, but it felt heavy for the first time in her life when Charon died that time.

 

It was like every little memory of him burned harder than putting rubbing alcohol on an open and deep wound. The meadows meant nothing but gray rainbows and dead flowers. The air was polluted with madness and miasma. It was a world of unforgettable pain and misery without Charon. 

 

She chose to stick by Charon. She chose to love that man. She chose to make that man important to her. Sadly, she even chose him to be a hinderance to herself moving on. The light that fell from the windowsill was coming to a fading state. “Do it, you little piece of shi—”

 

Nyx’s right arm was shown out of its restraints before being put on hold by shackles. A hard tug was motioned by the shackle while Nyx clenched her teeth to the slight pain appearing near her armpit.

 

Thomas manipulated the block to be able to swipe a razor edge of stone to slice through the exposed arm at a halfway point of her deltoid. “Ahhh!” Nyx was aching and screaming in a physical pain she had not suffer before.

 

“It’ll be smart to tell me about Minho before you die here, Nyx,” Thomas plainly stated the obvious. He was not going to let her live after he retrieved the information he needed to hear.

 

Nyx coughed up a little blood onto the restraints on her neck. It had to be Thomas to finish her off. There was no way she could go back to Chancellor looking as she was. Nyx would be put into the lab where they do experimental testing all over again. It would be different since she had Charon at the time to endure it all. 

 

Without him, she was not sure she could take on the burden of having multiple needles injected her. The drugs and medication. The amount of tubes with foreign liquids being assimilated into her bloodstream. It was not going to happen. “Minho’s going to,” Nyx took a small breath for herself as the blood from where her arm once was, “kill you.”

 

Unsure on how to take on the new information, Thomas scoffed at her, “No, he won’t!”

 

“How can you be so sure?” Nyx asked as the darkness was clouding her vision. “He’s pretty pissed lately about you. He… is going… to change the fate of this world. You  _ are _ the villain to this story you two are stuck in.”

 

Thomas was done hearing anymore useless lies. She had to be disposed of. Thomas raised his hand and crushed it. The formation of the rocks began crowding her entire body before it closed in on her with a force equivalent to a running truck. Like the last petal of flower, Nyx took her last breath as she slept soundly.

 

On the surface, Glados felt the air change as she fought alongside the shadow clones. “It won’t be long before this comes down on me,” she quietly commented. “I, Glados, open thee.”

 

A mirror opened and reflected a tropical destination. Glados entered the mirror and closed it immediately, making a clean escape. Maria wrapped ribbons upon ribbons on her shadow clone before sealing it away. Charles’ bugs were feasting on the remainder of their opponent while Bryan gave his clone an explosion from inside of the head.

 

Dolores prepared a giant spear of twisted paper before dropping it through giant Shadow Charon through the neck as Mona held the monster down with her gravity-manipulation. Thomas gave Nyx a proper burial before putting down a few flowers to commemorate her existence.

 

Thomas remained quiet and dubious of himself as Nyx’s final moments were replaying in his head.


	5. The Original Grievers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeaaah, I am a little late on this but oh welllll~ I hope everyone enjoys this chapter to the fullest extent as they can. I am still new to the whole action and fantasy thing, but it was really great and fun to write. I will admit that much. 2nd year in college is not even getting easier, but it is managable. I will say that much about it. Sooo I got my schedule a little busy to be trying to finish this story sooner than I would like to. I will always try to find some way to give myself time to do the future chaps little by little to ensure it gets at least some sort of progress. Everyone have a great day and whatnot. Leave kudos, share it, go outside and have fun, do something. Be safe and stay wonderful c:

Minho was itching in his sleep. He did not wake up, but he twisted and turned as sweat claimed his forehead. Memories of someone inside of his heart was trying to pickpocket the lock that Minho placed as a safety measure. It clinked a few times before it stopped. Did the person decided that it was not worth their time or effort to try to escape? Did they see it too impossible to do so? Was it really that easy to give up? No.  Unlike any other bird stuck in a cage, this one was a fighter. Flapping its wings against the metal bars until its feathers come off and blood had stolen the blank floor's color. Little bird was unable to learn the reality of the situation he was stuck in. 

 

He must had thought with only endurance and good will that he could get out. So  _ naive _ …

 

Standing menacingly, Chancellor Kevin was holding his own meeting with his remaining original grievers. He nodded his head to G0004, G0005, G0006, G0007, G0008, and G0009. The original grievers of World in Catastrophe: Killzone Experiment Department. They were people holding down a history with the organization unlike any other member after them. 

 

They were shared a dulled expression as Kevin warmly smiled for each of them. It was simple for negotiations to proceed when he was able to change their mentality. Although losing his prized three grievers were unfortunate, he had no problem letting his remaining team to rise against Earth King’s Wonders. 

 

If a fight was what Earth King wanted, then a fight would be accepted graciously by Kevin. He will prepare the expectations of the battle, including the time, place, _and_ coffins for the graves of the dead.  A wage for war was impending and Kevin intended for it come out favorable on his side. As all the grievers twitched sporadically, the Chancellor knew that each of them would understand what to do when the time comes. It was his shtick, for he _was_ the Whisperer of the Damned. The sweet irony of his name in juxtaposition to his official position. Kevin made himself chuckle before maintaining his seriousness as the grievers stood up and exited the room without a word. They got their orders, and it was only time that they needed to await on.

 

When Minho could reach his fullest potential, his zenith, Kevin wanted to assign Minho to G0000. The codename could be either up to Minho himself to decide or WCKED. It mattered little to Kevin, anyway. Earth King had to be defeated for the greater good. A world without WCKED monitoring it was a world that would be unladen of safety.

 

MInho was walking up to the dome when he noticed a line of grievers walking past in the direction he came from. They were a little off, but Minho had to mind his own business because his training was still ongoing. It was better to mind his own business, anyway.

 

As he approached the entrance of the dome, he saw Chancellor Kevin making his way towards the other side from Minho standing at. It was a little suspicious at first, but he figured a big man such as the Chancellor had business to attend to. Then he realized that there was no door at the end of the other side, in fact there was nothing else there but a giant white, blank wall.

 

As an odd result of his training, Minho learned to deconstruct his entity into the air, and then reconstruct himself when he felt like it. However, he could only pull off the trick for a few minutes before going back into it. He admitted he was not perfect, but who wasn’t nowadays?

 

First, he needed his feet and hands to transfer itself into a flowing state. As if they were flakes, they pulled back and faded away like sand in the wind. Its dissipating matter continued onwards until Minho’s arms and legs were being taken next. The transference was only about a minute long before his entire body was gone. 

 

Despite not having a physical human form, he could see, breathe, and hear everything that rode through the wind. Creeping as swiftly and unnoticeably behind Kevin, Minho thought it could be something interesting to the Asian.

 

Venturing through, Minho noticed as Kevin placed his hands on the walls and began emanating the same powers into the wall. It fried the system before the same purple color traveled throughout the arena. It looked despicable and Minho had no idea what good, or evil, Kevin was up to.

 

“Ah, truly magnificent, Minho. Truly, truly glorious you can project your energy like that,” Kevin uttered with a laugh. Kevin directed his vision at the general direction where Minho was hiding.

 

It genuinely surprised Minho nonetheless. Fabricating his body again, Minho exposed his position, knowing it was already saw through. “You caught me, doc,” Minho joked nervously, peeking around the room for reassurance. Fortunately, there was none. Great.

 

“When your training is over, I will make you Griever ID No.: 0000,” Kevin announced, in hopes of making light of the mood. 

 

“Gee, thanks,” Minho shyly muttered, “but no thanks.”

 

Clearly disappointed at the answer that came out of Minho’s mouth, Kevin was ready to teach people what  _ freedom _ would get them. “So puckish is what we want to display today.”

 

Minho was unable to tell what attack would come at him. Every direction was screaming at him that he would die. Every white canvas was plastered on by the disgusting hellish purple. It was insanity in a room. The aura was so strong that he could feel the wind slightly choking him instead of letting it follow his command. The power had almost an arbor to it; it overtly wanted to take over and cause a clamor.

 

“Pig Slaughterhouse,” Kevin commanded, causing a reaction in the essence that was spread thoroughly in the room. It bubbled and popped out a grotesque pus. The skulls of animals would come off of the wall along with some human ones. A few ghostly figures in the same color as the wall was trying to come through but was unable to; it almost looked stuck to where it was.

 

It was starting to concern Minho what was underlying around him. A few drops of the slimy ooze fell upon Minho’s face and it trickled into his eyes. It began sizzling and his skin was burning as if it were on a cooking frying fan. 

 

Without warning, there was chokehold over his neck. Kevin had seemed to close the distance rather quickly. Sympathy on the battlefield was as often as a fish climbing a tree. Kevin proceeded to pick Minho off his feet and then slammed him down hard enough that the purple flooring revealed the actual white surface. 

 

Noticing that the Asian male had lost consciousness but was still breathing, Kevin released his grip over the fallen fighter. He returned to his original goal before being traced by Minho. 

 

Corrupt the W.I.C.K.E.D. Training Dome. 

 

It was time for him to fast forward his plans before Thomas would be the first to lay an attack on HQ.

 

****

 

Minho woke up and stumbled out of his bed. He worriedly examined the room, seeing the forest scenery he was content to have as his design. It brought an odd peace to his mind, but he was unsure of what was killing his neck and head.

 

A memory was not coming to his head vividly. It was nothing but blurred motion in his mind. The wind-runner thought it was important, but he allowed the trivial thing to slide for the time being. His head was hurting and needed to have it be taken care of.

 

A few hours after eating, washing himself up, and taking a few medications for his aching pain, Minho was able to go back into his training as accordingly. Upon stepping through the same bland entrance, there was an abundance of people crowding it for once. 

 

There were at least six grievers that he was not informed of yet, and there were three faces that he was familiar with. “Three Sisters,” Minho articulated to the water grievers. 

 

The strongest of the two was the first to approach him, “Well, it’s our favorite noob!”

 

Their presence towards each other became more friendly than last time. The Three Sisters were calmer than what had happened with Chancellor Kevin. Minho could only hope they were all okay afterwards. 

 

G0042 thought it was about time for Minho to be familiar with the real names of the Three Sisters. “My name is actually Ophelia.” 

 

G1997 also took part in it with a little enthusiasm, “I’m Sapphire.”

 

Minho directed his face towards the tallest sister, and G2000 shyly answered for herself, “And I’m Shelly.”

 

“Minho, if you guys haven’t heard it enough times,” the Asian lightly joked, earning himself a few chuckles from the girls. 

 

“Well, apparently, this is an intensified training where you will be put to the test with teammates,” Ophelia was explaining the situation that they were all in. “I also understand there will be an uneven number with us four against all six of them.” 

 

“Problem is that they are part of the  _ original  _ nine grievers,” Shelly had to fuel the fire of anxiety. 

 

Taking a quick observation at the opponents, Minho noticed that they were the same people that he saw yesterday. They seemed normal today instead of twitching as if they were electrocuted before walking past Minho that time. The hybrid runner was beginning to piece together the scene. 

 

The stage began transitioning and revealed tanks of water behind Minho and Three Sisters. The battle was going to be starting soon enough. They each divided the arena between the two teams. Besides Ophelia being the one to inform what was going on, Minho worried that there was nothing but senseless violence about to be committed. He was surprised when a voice from an intercom hidden somewhere in the dome spoke out, “Good day, all! This is your Chancellor Kevin. I will monitor all of you closely, so feel free to play but don’t hold back. Otherwise, we won’t get things moving along.”

 

“Yeah, yeah,” Ophelia murmured, crossing her arms due to boredom and defiance.

 

“May the battle commence then!” Kevin announced through the intercom, instantly changing the calm atmosphere that filled the room.

 

It really was unnecessary for the strongest of grievers, the  _ original _ grievers, to be sparring with Minho or Three Sisters. It seemed way too easy of a challenge for the six grievers awaiting for an attack. 

 

Minho knew that water could be easily commanded for a defense if they were all four combining their will together. Ophelia took her hand as it showed its neon blue glow, “C’mon!”

 

Minho controlled the water from behind them and formed a protective sphere in case of surprise attack. A lady stood forward from the crowd with a parasol in a sundress as if she was ready for a picnic. Minho noticed fashion was only suitable for those that proved to be something unique besides a brainless soldier. The woman had the parasol resting upon her front shoulder while it produced a small and light shade for her. 

 

She lifted the item off and placed it front of her with the tip of the parasol facing Minho and Three Sisters. A trigger hidden at the handle underneath her index and middle finger. She pulled it and watched as the tip launched out with a combustors supporting its flight.

 

“No fucking way,” Minho stood in shock at the rocket that was coming at them. “Customizable weapons!?”

 

“Oh shuddap!” Shelly and Sapphire synced their voices, ordering the water sphere to lash out in tentacles to apprehend the missile coming for them. It successfully captured the flying object before crushing it, causing an explosion that was able to blast away the liquid substance to vapor and droplets. A mist was slowly circling the dome until it blinded Minho and Three Sisters.

 

“Everyone stay focused!” Ophelia was forewarning her comrades. 

 

“I got it,” Minho retorted, clapping his hands together before opening them apart from each other. The mist completely swayed to different corners of the dome before revealing that the opponents surrounded them. Much to their surprise, the original grievers did not send forth another attack yet.

 

Behind the hidden cameras, Chancellor Kevin secretly mumbled to his soldiers that were under his command, “Primary focus: Minho.” A small purple electrical current ran down all the enemies back to signify the message.

 

“Loud and clear,” G0007 articulated to no one. She was a woman of French descent, and her name was Perilloux. Being the one that did launch the first attack, she figured she had nothing else to lose. “Here we come, runner!”

 

With her parasol already having replaced the tip with another missile, Perilloux pressed the trigger again to repeat her first course of action. Minho, already done being starstruck by the customization of the weapon, thought it was time for him to backup his team.

 

As he was about to move his hands, Perilloux moved her arm faster. Her powers activated in pink energy waves that was able to hit the water sphere before the missile did. Unknowingly, the barrier of water began bubbling before exploding all over the area. All of the water-like grievers stood frozen to what had happened in a flashy moment.

 

As the flying object was closing in with Sapphire, Ophelia, and Shelly still petrified, they never thought a stable defense especially with the four of them combined could fall apart as fast as glass on concrete. They were not messing with opponents meant to take on lightly.

 

Minho recollected himself faster than the girls and was able to use his wind powers to deflect the missile to another direction. “Focus on the battle before you! If we stay in our asses, we won’t survive for even a minute!” Thanks to his words, the Three Sisters were able to bring themselves to reality again.

 

The missile was flying to a new destination—it was G0004, a male with long and vibrant hair flowing in his blond glory. He did not bother to dodge the weapon and took the explosion directly. The aftermath revealed no man leftover, and Minho was concerned that he murdered someone unintentionally. 

 

However, the other opponents were not fazed by their lost teammate as they all moved in position with each other. Ophelia took Minho by the arm and told him to his face about what he was up against, “Look, I only know this much about the original grievers, and one of them is G0007. Her codename is Lady Luck. Her real name is Perilloux.”

 

“You gotta be kidding me,” Minho expressed a tired face. If luck was on the opponent's side, it would be almost hopeless to fight them.

 

“The one you led the missile was G0004, and he’s the Blooming Spring Festival. His name is March,” Ophelia ducked with Minho as arrows were being fired. Shelly and Sapphire were doing what they can to provide cover against it with the spilled water on the floor. 

 

They conjured up walls to swallow up the arrows flying at Minho and Ophelia. Perilloux used her powers to send forth the same energy waves to disrupt and disarm the shield that Shelly and Sapphire were putting up. Luckily, the two siblings were able to form another wall to cover the firing. 

 

“Separate,” a voice spoke softly to Minho and Ophelia. The pure water-griever looked around and saw a few cherry blossom petals floating past her. Before she could react, a torrent of air pushed Minho back away from the Three Sisters as thousands of petals swallowed the space between them. Reappearing after being exploded, March stood elegantly in the middle of Ophelia and Minho.

 

“Ma-March,” Minho groaned to the sudden force that he felt. Perhaps it would be a little selfish to  lay for a few more minutes.

 

“Minho,” March spoke the Asian male’s name with strictness despite his ever flowing presence.

 

“Tempest here,” a teenage girl with a mild voice spoke. Two whips were attached to the buckle of her belt on her black and brown skirt. She smiled before placing her hands on the handles of her weapons. Tempest was G0009 with the codename: Passionate Lashes of Fury.

 

One crack of her whip caused a small amount of electricity to fly. Her electricity flowed into her whips and pulled the weapon back before letting it sprung forward smoothly. Despite her being in front of the Three Sisters, her whip was able to stretch wide enough to lash out on Minho. 

 

None of the sisters dared to touch or repel the weapon due to being afraid of being attacked by all the volts and amps the Whip Lady could produce. Minho’s head turned to see a large tear on his clothes that also managed to cut decently into his chest. 

 

“Focus: Minho,” Tempest twitched slightly as something was itching her spinal cord. Ignoring it, she resumed to her offense. 

 

Seeing it to be pointless to be useless, Ophelia pooled the available water laying around the floor, and she created two swords before freezing it to stabilize its form. “Please, help me get to him,” she spoke in a soft tone, knowing well that her sisters would back her up.

 

“Containment!” Shelly and Sapphire shouted, forcing the water to cage in Tempest and the remaining grievers on her side. 

 

Ophelia ran as quick as she could to Minho, but it seemed that March had other plans by standing in her way. “G0042,” March commented, fixing his suspenders on his white polo shirt. “One of the Three Sisters.”

 

“March,” Ophelia spat the name, gripping her swords partially tighter. 

 

“Kids these days. Doughty as ever, I say,” March chuckled to himself, stepping towards Ophelia.

 

Not paying much attention to caution, Ophelia dove head-first at March. She thrust her left sword forward, which March sidestepped effortlessly, and then swung down her right sword. The carefree blond moved his body back and dodged the attack. A small smirk appeared on Ophelia’s face. “Perhaps you took me too lightly.”

 

The right sword that missed took the second that March dodged it to shatter and transform into shards of ice that flew in March’s direction. The blond was ready to deflect the attack when he sensed another attack coming at his back. When he turned his head around, he saw Minho on his feet. 

 

A spinning wind saw was already coming for March, and the flowery blond admitted that he was careless in his planning. A tree that still stood underneath a heavy storm will dance, and even if the petals all disappear, the tree will produce more. It was a magnificent cycle, and like that tree, March thought it was opportune to control the field. “Dance: Blooming Petals.”

 

An explosion of air and rosy petals interrupted the attacks directed towards the blond in a fierce moment. Minho and Ophelia were drawn apart once more. Although not staying on the ground long, they stood strong on their feet as they looked at the debris fly away to reveal March with a cycling air that trapped flower petals in its vortex.

 

Minho sighed as he figured he was a wind-user as well. “This fight will get annoying rather quickly.”

 

“Minho!” Ophelia cried out, conjuring water to be taken willingly into March’s vortex of air. She quickly froze the atmosphere that the blond was producing and proceeded to Minho’s side safely.

 

“Ahh!” Shelly flew past the two comrades, scaring the soul out of Ophelia as she witnessed her precious sister injured. Ophelia turned to check on Sapphire, who was struggling deeply to hold back the combination of attacks from Tempest and Perilloux.

 

Minho knew what had to be done, and he gave Ophelia and fierce expression before she understood, or at least he hoped that she could comprehend him, of what was going to happen. “You think you can hold those guys off with your sisters while I take on March?” Minho had to confirm with G0042.

 

“You bet your ass we can.”

 

“Good,” said Minho. He gave his teammate a handshake before they went off in different directions to their respective battles. 

 

Kevin rolled his eyes and shook his head as he figured that plan was inevitable to be made. It was not like he wanted things to play out the way Minho planned, for Kevin had other things set in motion instead. The plagued wolf could only wait to infect others with its disease. Feeling a little mischievous of how the Chancellor wanted to be entertained, Kevin spoke out a command, “Caged Animals.”

 

A strong electric shock came thoroughly in the spinal cord among the original grievers. They rolled on their stomachs and backs as their screams of agony resonated the dome. It was the chorus of misery and melancholy. The diffluence of pain was awfully, shakingly loud. Once the shock was finished torturing its victims, the grievers stood up twitching as their eyes looked  _ demented _ . 

 

Minho and his comrades were clueless of what was gravelling the opponents. Once the screamings were ceased, the deadly silence was apparent. Tempest and March stood up like zombies climbing out of their graves. The other grievers did the same, which did creep out Sapphire. Minho and Ophelia were ready for what was up the opponents sleeves.

 

Shelly held Sapphire close to her breast and embraced as warmly as she could. Shelly understood that family was all she had left at WCKED, and it was important to Shelly to protect the ones she loved before they were taken away from her. Never again. Never did she want to feel that in her heart again.

 

Tempest had her electrical aura rolling around her body, and she disappeared like a thunder. Minho had his eye on March before the blond dissipated into petals. Minho sensed March’s presence still but not Tempest’s. “Above us!” Minho warned his group.

 

Waves upon waves of petals came down upon the group. It was a cyclone. 

 

As it came, Tempest whipped a group of petals which began to fry up and burn. The shock traveled to each floating petal until it became a complete fire hazard. It was like watching a forest light on fire. The Three Sisters found the situation easy to deal with their water powers, but it was going to be difficult if the electricity was still able to go through.

 

Electricity flowed beautifully through the fire and ashes, and it was a coordinated attack meant to trap and burn the enemy. This was no silly attack or something like child’s play. These enemies were going to legitimately kill Minho and his new friends. Tempest and March synced their voices, “Burning Autumn Storm.”

 

Ice would melt at the fire. Water would still let the electricity pass through it. The wind could move the attack enough for Minho and his friends to escape its encounter. There was not much time to think, so Minho just went for what he had in his mind. “Three Sisters, let’s run towards that wall where there’s none of them waiting for us! I’ll hold off a portion of their attack to ensure our escape!”

 

The three siblings did as they were told, and they were off running as fast as they could. Minho followed after but he had to activate his wind powers to control the flow of the cyclone to move slightly in the opposite direction from where they were running. If he could accomplish that much, he could manage to save their lives from a painful burn or even  _ death _ .

 

Summoning up his own wide cyclone from underneath his feet, Minho launched it towards the burning attack and pushed it away from closing down on his comrades. March appeared from behind Minho and landed a kick to Minho’s kidney. 

 

Tempest flashed in front of Minho and constricted him in her whip. She released a shockwave that traveled down her whip to the Asian male. Minho screamed as hard as he could with his conscious threatening to fade to black. After she stopped her powers from hurting Minho, March prepared another attack aimed directly for Minho’s head. 

 

“Flower Whirlwind,” March commanded, but before the attack could go through, something latched his head and dragged him back away from Minho.

 

“I got a nerve to pick with you, March!” A water tentacle was surrounding Shelly’s arm as she brought March to the Three Sisters.

 

Using the fleeting time Minho had to free himself, he kicked a gust of wind at Tempest and forced her back a couple feet. He then lifted his leg up and made the air slice the whip apart to free himself. “Jesus Christ, they’re ruthless,” Minho told himself.

 

Arrows were fired but Minho knew the direction of each shot and dodged them without difficulty. It was the fact that each the arrow’s silver blunt sliced a certain space in the air that disturbed Minho’s senses. WIth that in mind, he was able to detect its trajectory. Minho took a good glance at the battlefield and noticed the burnt leftovers of the Burning Autumn Storm. On that side, there were still a handful grievers on that side overtly waiting to destroy Minho.

 

Great.

 

Minho shrugged and sighed as he figured it was going to be a relentless and ruthless battle. His head had the right priorities, and he was not going to falter to anything that WCKED threw at him. Minho’s self-confidence was blooming at full-power, and he was going to not hold back because the opponents’ bloodlust was reeking the area. “Let’s dance, everyone!” 

 

Tempest flashed in again, trying to strike him down with her broken whip. The Asian motioned his body to the side to evade the whip, but Tempest was already preparing a kick to Minho’s face. Not taking another blunt hit to his body, Minho manipulated the air space that the kick headed in and created a small windwall in its path.

 

The kick landed on the windwall, which was able to endure the impact nicely. Minho took the opportunity to attack. He pushed out a twister from the palm of his hand that directly braced itself at Tempest’s stomach. The electrical woman was sent flying away.

 

However, as she was launched, Tempest’s whip was able to tie Minho up at the last moment and ultimately brought him along with her. In a split moment in time, Minho saw in the corner of his eye, a pink energy wave coming to intersect with his flight path.

 

Not reacting fast enough, he was sent in an entirely new direction by the wave. It fortunately cut the whip that was attached to him. Shaking his head to see who was responsible for that attack, it was none other than the Lady Luck: Perilloux. 

 

She was waving her finger at Minho as her parasol provided the shade for her. Minho sent out a few whirlwinds to shove her away, but someone came behind Perilloux’s figure. It was a boy that was probably a pre-teen. He bowed and waved before lightly throwing a small grenade.

 

The two forces collided and exploded, in every literal sense. Smoke and fire was there as Minho worried little about the small damages to the arena. He turned to look at Three Sisters struggling to fight off March. 

 

Shelly was waving her water tentacles around as March evaded them mid-air. Ophelia threw as many water needles, spears, and swords at him. Every time March directed an attack below him, Sapphire would cast a wall of water to block and protect her sisters. 

 

Minho was about to aid their cause until he moved his head subconsciously to dodge a flying arrow. Once his head faced the correct direction from where the object was fired, he saw standing next to Perilloux was another male but older. 

 

The younger griever male gave the older one another arrow. Perilloux chuckled as she sent her weird energy waves again. Minho had no idea what the  _ real  _ power of Perilloux was besides that it revolved around bad luck. Unbelievably, it packed a punch to it as well.

 

G0008 drawn his arrow back on his compound bow. He was known as the Lost Archer. The griever awaited for the perfect moment for Minho to appear on his calculated sights. There was someone besides the Chancellor and March that was able to dodge an arrow from Lost Archer, and there would be problems to occur if Lost Archer allowed to keep letting that number to increase.

 

Minho rode the air and was able to escape the raging pink force, but there was something coming for his head at an unusually quick speed. He maneuvered his face to barely dodge another arrow that almost grazed the skin of his neck. The wind-runner proceeded to forced the object to cease from the air and showcased it to Lost Archer. “Yikes! Trying hard much!?” Minho shouted at G0006.

 

The little boy, G0008, was waving at Minho before his eyes glowed in a red energy. The arrow that was suspended in the air next to Minho glowed in white as it illuminated brightly. Without a sound, it exploded similar to one of a C4. 

 

G0008 was known as the Exploding Youth. The kid’s name was formally known as Omar. The boy laughed as Minho crawled away as best as he could. “I’m glad it’s not night,” Minho stated to himself, “otherwise it would be creepy to hear.”

 

Once the smoke cleared up, Lost Archer held the arrow back before chanting to it, “Pierce the snow—Flying Icicle.” On command, Archer’s energy went straight into his arrow before it underwent a drastic transformation into an iceborn weapon. It also grew five times larger than its original size. 

 

Letting go of the string, G0006 observed as the ice arrow went to Minho’s legs to encase the wind-runner in its icy presence. “Fuck!” the wind-runner cursed as he tried to move his legs that were trapped in ice.

 

Although ice and water were the same element in technicality, Minho was unsure of how he could force the ice to comply to his wishes in time. Perilloux waved her arms and exerted her pink shockwaves again. Minho was able to defrost enough of the ice off of his legs to summon up a water wall to endure the hit. 

 

He frantically tried to relax himself in order to defrost the rest of the ice stuck to his body. Perhaps it was time for Minho to implement more of his water powers. He had to keep his equanimity if he wanted a chance to defeat the huge set-up of opponents. The impact of Perilloux’s attack collided with Minho’s wall and then the water dispersed all around him. 

 

Something flew through the aftermath and landed directly on the ice that Minho was still trying to get rid of. It was a few throwing knives that were virtually harmless since they only impaled into the deep ice, but it began to glow blindly while Minho realized what was going to happen next. 

 

He pulled the ice up by his will and threw everything into the air in hopes of reducing the blast radius that would impact Minho. As it was still detonating, Minho decided to encase the objects with another layer of ice and then a new layer of water. For extra reassurance, he implemented an additional layer of wind to conceal the explosive.

 

“This is it!” All the enemy grievers clamored. 

 

The Three Sisters were still trying to keep March occupied but were unable to halt one attack from slipping through them. “Flower Whirlwind!” March strategically aimed two attacks in two different directions. One headed for Minho while the other was for the Three Sisters. It forced the sisters to pick and choose a fate. However, it mattered not if they succeeded stopping March’s attack or not.

 

The  _ outcome  _ was going to come out the same… 

 

Minho let a sigh of relief and he watched the knives to safely explode without hurting anyone. Spontaneously, somebody came right through the smoke and was going for Minho. It was G0005—Camille, the Monster Hiding Underneath the Bed.

 

She extended her fingers to unfathomable lengths that were not possible for an immune. She created a cage for Minho to be contained in. It was obscene to think someone like Camille existed among the runners. Noticing something wrong with the attack, Minho knew it was only a support for something bigger to come. 

 

“Crap,” Minho nearly wanted to piss himself because there were multiple attacks coming directly for him.

 

From one side of Minho’s head, there was Tempest sending down a thunderbolt at the caged Asian male. From the front side of Minho, a few knives were thrown by Omar. It was also accompanied by Perilloux’s energy wave and  Lost Archer’s enchanted arrow. From behind of Minho, there was the final attack from March aimed for the unfortunate wind-runner. 

 

The original grievers and even Kevin from where he was sitting exclaimed the name of the deadly combination, “Grievers Might!”

 

All of their attacks smashed together and omitted a cluster of clouds. It was an astonishingly beautiful onslaught. The cat’s-paws did what they were sent out to do. Cornering a scared and lost beast would only cause the creature to show its teeth and bite back its hunter. Unless it was actually a child hiding away underneath the blankets. 

 

Kevin awaited for his results, figuring that Minho would be completely demolished or turned into a  _ monster _ to fight back. 

 


	6. Fight the Present to Foray Into the Future!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, here y'all go again! I'm trying to cut back the action to give time for the characters to interact normally and whatnot. Although, the action will not necessarily stop since there will be a war between Thomas and WCKED and whatnot. It will happen soon enough. Not sure tho. BUt anyways, read and enjoy the chapter. Thank you for keeping up w/ this long story!

“Minho!” Ophelia shouted as much as her lungs could take in. 

 

The aftermath was shown. Everyone held their breath as they saw no one there anymore. Minho had disappeared and was not seen anywhere else. Kevin sulked a little to think that his compiled plan was too overwhelming for the Asian. However, something else interesting had happened before his eyes.

 

The Three Sisters were picking a very brutal fight against his soldiers. To exact their grief and passion, they fought the original grievers knowing they had a type-disadvantage. It was water, in all forms, versus the variety of powers from each individual opponent. 

 

They cared little if they were defeated, for they had something unleashed within them when Minho was evaporated. They would fight for freedom and what they believed was right without fear. “I’m coming for all of you!” Ophelia shouted, sending forth an array of icicles at the enemy. 

 

Tempest made quick work to retaliate by striking down all the icicles into shards with one lash of her empowered whip. Shelly and Sapphire nodded as they understood what they had to do. They stood firmly behind Ophelia and stated, “Aqua Ring.”

 

The eldest and youngest created two circling rings of water for their strongest sister to use at her disposal. Ophelia nodded as her silent way of thanking them. Perilloux chuckled as she prepared her final missile attached to her parasol.

 

“Coming for you first, Lady Luck,” Ophelia began commanding the water to bend to her will. She conjured up a sword and a hammer in her hands and began to run off. “Supportive Bond!”

 

Although Ophelia separated from her two sisters, the two aqua rings where they intersected created a tube that led back to Shelly and Sapphire. In that sense, they would be able to still support each other despite the distance. 

 

Perilloux pressed the trigger to unleash her ultimate rocket that had her winky-face engraved on the side of it. Tempest tried to intervene by whipping out her weapon, and fortunately, Ophelia ducked in time to dodge it and dash forward towards Perilloux. 

 

The winky-faced rocket was soaring through the air before it was a few inches from making contact with Ophelia. It was not an obvious explosive as the others were, but inside of the device had compacted methane and propane gas. 

 

Careless about the remnants of the object, Ophelia sliced down the rocket with her sword and wondered why it did not explode. After three seconds had passed, March appeared suddenly in front of her. The water griever did not take the engagement lightly and prepared a strike.

 

“Out of my way!” Ophelia shouted, noticing at the last minute that March was slyly smirking. It meant trouble.

 

“Sweeping Petals,” March whispered, commanding a hoard of petals from behind him to overpower Ophelia a few feet back to where the rocket was sliced. 

 

Tempest flashed behind Sapphire and Shelly and proceeded to kick them hard enough to close the distance between their missing sister. As the Three Sisters remained on the ground for a minute, March was not finished with their combination yet. He summoned a tornado to suck them in and send them flying into the air.

 

Consequently, the water, methane, and propane were mixed into the natural disaster along with the Three Sisters. Lost Archer came into the picture with his arrow aimed directly at the eye of the storm. “Cloud Maker!” 

 

As the name suggested, the arrow was able to create numerous dark-looking clouds when it reached its destination. Tempest took the opportunity to send a thunderbolt from her whip to the clouds. Lightning was sure to strike at that point. 

 

Once the first thunderbolt came down into the storm, the chain reaction began. The whole tornado was lit into agonizing flames. The tornado seared thoroughly whatever was inside of its edges. Meanwhile, Minho was laying down where he was attacked earlier.

 

He got up to look around and noticed the burning tornado near him. He had an eerie feeling that there were was something important in there. His body must have dissipated into the air like how March could when he was struck by the rocket. There must have obviously been a time-limit to as how much Minho could maintain the form.

 

Taking a chance to head into the storm, he flew towards past the walls of the storm. Sensing the faded presence of his friends, he understood who was stuck inside of the fiery hell… Three Sisters.

 

****

 

In the Earth Kingdom, Thomas was talking to his group of defenders. They each figured that they needed to get along in a deeper sense; they needed to understand where the others came from in terms of background. Each of their names meant something to each them, and they had a history for the reason why they chose their peculiar names.

 

In a forest-like area, Thomas was holding the meeting for them to try to open up and connect with their other members. It would become difficult for Thomas to let the wedge that was forged in between all of them to remain stationary. Disposal had to be carried out. The trees shook to the mild wind, cleansing the atmosphere with its breaths of life.

 

Maria was caressing the softness of her silky robe. Her eyes almost as black as a witch’s cat. Her careless attitude matched her frivolous manner in fights and materialism. Her white hair was lurking right at her elbows. A light radiated from the interspaces of the branches and, with the sunlight on her lime-green clothing, she illuminated as if she was a deity from the heavens. 

 

Thomas sought to make her the first to talk. “Maria, would you please—”

 

“Nuh uh,” Maria interrupted Thomas, ceasing to touch her smooth clothes. “I know what you want us to do. Bryan told us beforehand.”

 

Bryan shamelessly looked away from the group and acted as if he was interested in the trees surrounding them in tranquility. Thomas rolled his eyes at the discouraging attitudes that his group was displaying; hard as taking care of a group of babies. “I heard that, y’know,” Bryan commented out of the blue while still immersed in his sudden interest in the grass in the soil.

 

“Shameless people,” Thomas rolled his eyes a second time. “Is anyone willing to share their stories with each other? I only want us to synchronize better.”

 

“No,” a unison uttered was heard by Thomas from his group. The sweet irony in their comment together. 

 

“Why?” Thomas was sighing, dropping his tense shoulders low with his exhale. “Maria, I know you wanted to do this out of spite. Bryan, you were basically moved by my dedication and sheer power. Dolores, you wanted me to help me build the ‘bright’ future for future generations.”

 

Everyone stood quiet and dared not to stare at one another. Charles’ ant colony began to take over a neighboring nest. Mona looked into the sunny sky, which was something she was not accustomed to seeing. Dolores held her posture. Calm and sophisticated as the walking white cat in the night. Bryan could read into certain parts of his members’ mind, knowing what could be said or thought. 

 

Maria was the one to take a step into uncharted territory that they all were afraid to enter. “Fine, I  _ am _ doing this Wonders thing to be a form of revenge against WCKED.” No one spoke out of line, but, in fact, they tuned in with an open yet shaky door. “I was fine at first, letting WCKED be WCKED, but they went too far once they took my younger sister. She was my lotus flower in the lake.”

 

“What was your sister’s power?” Charles asked, surprisingly able to feel human empathy.

 

“She had the ability to control plants. She was right in  _ Glade  _ city when it happened. Her powers got out of control and WCKED came in and snatched her to their headquarters,” Maria spat as if she could still taste the salt and poison in her mouth. “I wasn’t even in the right country. I was in Japan during this time.” The cloth-runner was wiping something out of her eye. There were no tears, though. “They said she was utterly useless in training. She could barely hurt anyone the way they wanted her to be able to. Eventually, they overworked her, and she died shortly after.”

 

“How did you know?” Thomas asked with a straightforward face. There had to be an explanation as to how Maria found out about her younger sister’s predicament. Referring to the distance between the two, there was no logical way to communicate that fast.

 

“It’s simple really. My younger sister, despite being a step-sister and young, she was intelligent all on her own. The thing she wanted to be sent home was a flower,” Maria was fondling with her robe to distract her emotions. “I received the flower a month later and was informed that she was ‘great’ runner and died doing her absolute best on the field. However, the flower contained something inside of its stem—a handwritten letter from my own younger sister describing what she was facing.” 

 

“You don’t need to continue speaking if your mind is starting to fall apart thinking about your past,” Bryan mentioned, casually playing with his fingertips.

 

“You know? You can read this,” Maria retorted.

 

“Hey! No need to tell me to ‘eat shit’ in your head. It’s equally as loud as saying it to my face, anyways,” Bryan defended himself, throwing his hands up afterward as if he was innocent. 

 

“You all annoy my soul.”

 

“Well, thank you so much for sharing, Maria,” Thomas stated with gratulation, “I really mean it. You did great for sharing, and you have my condolences.”

 

Dolores stood proud of herself before revealing the palm of her hands of her story of joining Thomas’ side. Little paper mache started to form a figure in each of her hands. A new figure appeared next to one mache model in her right palm. “I joined because I fought a close friend of mine that was from WCKED. I took care of her as if she was my own kin. Her mother was a strong woman and had to take the position of supporting herself and her daughter. When the daughter got struck by the eclipse and became a runner, I was appointed to her as a teacher.”

 

The second paper mache model in her right hand crumpled down and left the lonely figure alone. The two remaining figures started to fist-fight to visually aid her members of the story. “She challenged me to duel after her successful training at the organization. She lost over and over and frustrated her. Her temper really matched her name. Anyways, she was still a young girl when I fighting her,” Dolores’ figures were pointing at the other figure frantically as if they were arguing. “My close friend joined WCKED to get stronger despite still losing to me. I never saw her again, assuming she was training at WCKED to gain more power to beat me. I must save her and never let WCKED turn this future’s generation into an army as opposed to humans with lives to thrive in peace together.”

 

Thomas nodded and was honestly touched that Dolores was living up to her own nickname. He almost wanted to venerate the well-rounded woman. “May we know this girl’s name?”

 

“ _ Tempest _ ,” Dolores said in a robust voice.

****

The lightning griever’s nerves twitched a little, but she ignored the itch and focused entirely on the battle at hand. March’s instincts began picking up an entity that was nearby. It may not have been seen, but it was obviously felt. He was unable to pinpoint its exact location, but March knew there was something around the room lurking.

 

As for Minho, he made his body reanimate before single-handedly tearing the tornado in half. He looked down upon the original grievers before holding up his comrades with his wind powers. “You guys almost had me there,” Minho admitted to the truth, “but I am  _ not _ going to let that happen again.”

 

Minho noticed that the Three Sisters were not burnt to a crisp. They were lucky to use the water they had connected to each other to ward off the fire from incinerating them on the first contact. They only suffered a few minor burns. The fight exhausted the strength of the older and younger sister, though. 

 

“This is what it comes down to, huh? A two versus six.” Perilloux commented snarkily, “Pitiful bad luck.”

 

“Play it cool, P,” Tempest shrugged, “you never know what’s up their sleeve. Heard wind-runner was a wild card.”

“Can you two cool it?” March intervened their conversation as politely as he could. “That man got something burning inside of him that may come to bite us in our asses.”

 

Most of the water that was available were turned into vapor, so Minho could only limit himself to his wind while the sisters were stuck with nothing. In a positive turn of events, one of the floor panels behind Minho flipped around and revealed a tank of water. Its lid opened and was free to use to their will. Ophelia took the water and began healing her sisters with it. “I’m going to need time to at least restore enough of their strength,” Ophelia hated to admit it aloud because it made her feel like she was not strong enough to help her sisters faster. 

 

“Gotcha,” Minho nodded as he walked away. “I’ll just use half of the tank for myself.”

 

Lost Archer stared at Omar. They simultaneously thought of something similar. Omar walked up to Camille and whispered, “Bow, please.”

 

She looked over at Archer and expressed her agreement. She spun arms around until they were stretched wide and long. She motioned her arms to form something like a bow and used her thumb as the string to holster the arrow that Lost Archer would provide. “Pesky bug, he is,” Camille commented as Lost Archer stood behind her. “Huh, Archie?” 

 

“I told you to not use my  _ real _ name,” Archie expressed dread but maintained his seriousness. 

 

“Omar, cover me,” Archie demanded as he prepared a chant for his upcoming attack.

 

“Sending the kid to do a grownups work, so childish,” Omar spat, walking away towards Minho. 

 

“Just do it,” Lost Archer deadpanned.

 

“On it, on it!” Omar started rushing at Minho and his comrades. 

 

Minho saw it quite dangerous and risky to fight, not only was it morally wrong for himself to fight a kid, but it was also because the kid had powers to turn anything he touched into an explosive. It would be Minho’s downfall if he let this become a slipshod duel.

 

Omar was almost in front of Minho’s face, but the Explosive Youth decided it would play better on his part to cartwheel the rest of the distance. Omar contemplated earlier on a situation that if he were to be involved in a one-on-one with Minho, it would come out victorious for Omar if he could land a few hand prints. 

 

“Take this!” Omar flipped into the air and tried to drop down with a kick on Minho. 

 

Although, Minho found it useful that close combat could be easily countered by his wind powers. For example, Minho redirected the direction that Omar was heading down on to the right a little. However, it was funnier to hold Omar suspended in the air by his left ankle. 

 

“Hey! Let me down!” Omar began struggling to free him as he hung upside down.

 

Minho smiled softly at Omar. “Kids shouldn’t be involved in messes like this.” 

 

Omar analyzed the situation and went into action for a quick recourse. The belt he was wearing was still a WCKED utility belt, and he pressed a button to release little pellets that fell to the floor. Minho directed his attention downwards and saw a light illuminated from it.

 

Minho covered his eyes as he knew what they were. “Flash grena—”

 

The pellets interrupted all of Minho’s vision and also the concentration of his powers, which inevitably freed Omar from the air. This would only mean trouble for Minho if Omar could land a handprint on the Asian male. 

 

Omar decided to go for a touch on Minho’s wore-down shirt. It was a few millimeters away from its mark. “Not today!” Minho jumped back to put distance between Omar and him.

 

But Omar wanted that to happen just nicely… 

 

Explosive’s Youth’s eyes glowed in a bloody red before explosives went off behind Minho. But how was that possible? Minho thought when that was… it was when Omar did all the cartwheels! He was marking the path down. 

 

Through the smoke and debris, Omar disappeared smoothly to make room for the real attack coming for Minho. “Thanks!” Lost Archer mentioned aloud once the air was cleared. “Catch this: Essence of the Void.” 

 

With the bow that Camille provided with her arms, she and Archie were able to draw an intensified and humongous arrow. Once released, it fired at an unbelievably fast speed. It ate, mauled, devoured the space in its line of trajectory. It did not have an appetite meant to be satisfied, but it continued to eat all in its way.

 

Until it was a few centimeters away from coming into contact with Minho, the wind-runner had no time to dodge and could only try to intercept the object. He clasped his hands together before the arrow was able to impact his chest and noticed the dark energy exerting from the arrow as if it was unstable and dangerous. 

 

Flapping high among the clouds, a group of birds passed by over the Six Wonders. One bird was falling behind to go off in its own path to liberation and peace. The bird in the sky was only waiting to be shot down by the hunter. It would provide some nutrition to the hunter when he would come to collect the body. It was the mindset that Archie had in his mind—hunt or be hunted.

 

Minho was unsure of how long he could pull the arrow back as it pushed him forward. March and the rest of the grievers were on standby as they observed the runner try to accomplish something worthy to kill for. A pack of hyenas waiting for its prey to depreciate in strength before mauling it down with their vicious teeth.

 

The original grievers were weapons to WCKED nonetheless. They were runners that trained to become the top of their class to the point to deserve a new name. They were what were used on secret missions when runners were still a new thing. These grievers had to learn to shed blood, wage war and unleash their full capabilities as runners. They endeavored the struggles of being part of WCKED’s private army before it blew out of proportion.

 

They grieved losing a few comrades here and there, and the robust and vicious grievers earned their name through the stories that ran down WCKED halls of their painful victories. Nyx and Charon’s never-ending combos of light and dark that made enemies evaporate to their might. Glados’ mirror taking them anywhere they needed to go. The winds of fate that March had full control over. Camille was always sent on spy missions for her superior cover from her shapeshifting. Archie being the bullseye of the aim on the team. Perilloux’s who allowed her bad luck to rain upon the enemy. Omar often left the battlefield in ruins. Lastly, Tempest excelled at close and mid-ranged combat to ensure her team was not entirely defenseless. 

 

With Chancellor Kevin, they were an organized set of killers before everything began to deteriorate. As Minho continued to attempt to stop the arrow in its tracks, Kevin grew rather excited about how much the wind in the runner was growing as a fighter. 

 

Normally, a runner would be blown out of their existence by that attack, but Minho stood his ground and intercepted something that could mean his death without much fear in his eyes. It was those fully-determined eyes that got Kevin on a trip to some haven. 

 

Tenacious—it was exactly what Kevin wanted on his army and for himself. “That’s it, give it to me,” Kevin was clenching the edges of his seat, eyeing over the monitor screen. 

 

“Aaaah!” Minho screeched before using all of his willpower to move his hands upwards to launch the arrow into the ceiling. It shined before it cracked and blew up into a giant firework of darkness and starry specs. It was like watching the universe being made. Minho gazed into its beauty and thought childishly that he was going to be the change this world needed.  

 

“Minho!” Subconsciously, the wind-runner turned his head to see where Ophelia’s voice was coming from. A water whip sprung rapidly past Minho’s face and made contact with Omar’s hand, who was trying to smother the Asian male’s cheek.

 

Minho froze the area that covered Omar’s wrist to hold the boy in place. “There, now you can stay still.” 

 

“Don’t think so, buddy,” Omar retorted, swinging his body in a flip until he was on top of the block of ice on his hand. He touched it with his free hand and made a small enough explosion to not damage his own arm. 

 

When Omar directed his head towards Minho, the Asian had his palm facing already at Omar’s innocently shocked face. “Rats,” Omar announced defeated.

 

Minho nodded before unleashing a light cyclone from his hands to force back Omar to a long distance. It was quite annoying to deal with children. Minho never wanted them nor did he exactly ‘enjoy’ spending time with them. He did think they were cool when they stayed out of his business. At least that much he appreciated of the concept. 

 

“One down, right?” Minho smiled for once during the battle.

 

Perilloux and Tempest began to intervene Minho’s short-earned victory. Their combination of attacks was trickier than what Omar was setting up before. Perilloux was continuously radiating off her powers to tip the balance on Minho’s part unfavorably. Tempest, being the quick girl she was, aimed for any opening that was provided by Perilloux. Minho could dodge as much as he could, but he could only realistically dodge enough before an attack was actually able to land on him.

 

Inevitably, the constant straightforward brashness was successful. “Time is a Fickle Mistress,” Perilloux commanded, lashing Minho in the head with a wave of her pink energy. 

 

“F-Fuc,” Minho was beginning to lose control of his senses. His sight, smell, conscious, and even hearing was drastically cut from its functional capabilities. He waddled a little behind as Tempest dashed forward with her whip ready. 

 

Something occurred to him like a deer in the headlights when Perilloux inflicted that last attack. His senses were not aligned in any way. He tried to blow a whirlwind to force back Tempest, but the attack was too narrow and therefore easy to dodge. He was as easy of a target as a sitting duck.

 

“Gotcha!” Tempest managed to land one crack of her whip on Minho that it drew blood from him. After forcing Minho to the floor, Tempest sent out a sentinel of lightning to electrocute her desired opponent.

 

A wall of water froze instantly in front of Minho. It took the hit from Tempest fairly before it retaliated with icicle spears that Perilloux had to fend off. Ophelia sent her image through a crystal mirror from the ice mirror to communicate with Minho from a distance. 

 

“Minho, listen up,” Ophelia started trying to get the wind-runner’s attention.

 

“H-Huh?” Minho was unable to put together the words that she was producing. Vowels and consonants kept trying to fabricate gibberish. It was far difficult with half of his hearing being on flipped on and off. 

 

Ophelia could only sustain the form she was projecting for a limited time and noticed that Minho’s eyes were absurdly bright pink. She felt that she was staring into two bottles of Pepto Bismol. Perilloux must have done something to inhibit Minho to function properly. “Purifying Water,” Ophelia commanded, having an ice block over Minho’s head.

 

The block began to glow in white before it melted down and trickled along Minho’s face. Little by little, it came bigger in waves until the entire block of ice was depleted. The hybrid fighter was opening his eyes and feeling rejuvenated unlike before. He even noticed the slash that Tempest made had disappeared.

 

“Holy shit,” Minho was nothing less than ecstatic. “Thank you! You gotta teach that to me eventually.”

 

Softly smiling, Ophelia nodded, “Just focus on the battle. Those two will be a handful to deal. I can’t even hold them off for thirty minutes, even, seconds!” 

 

“Okay, I got it now. No more being a shuck,” Minho picked himself off of the floor, preparing his mentality for what was going to come at him. Ophelia could only smile and let the mirror shatter because she still had her sisters to heal up. Shuck… what a funny word he used.

 

Perilloux noticed immediately that Minho had a different posture after disabling his senses earlier. “So you’re good again.” 

 

“C’mon, P, let’s just get this over with. I’m getting bored attacking a ragdoll,” Tempest crack her whip audibly against the tile texture. 

 

A slight form of anxiety was planting itself into Minho’s stomach after hearing the sharp sound. Never had Minho fought these many runners in his life. It was not like he had a choice here at WCKED, anyway. Although, it seemed too much of a ruthless and rigid system that was constructed upon its foundation. There was always empathy being sent from Minho to the runners he had to detain before. There was nothing shown from these original grievers. They were trained killers meant for the only purpose to get stronger and reinforce WCKED’s rule over the world.

 

Newt. Gally. Alby. The whole police station. Glade City. These memories came back to Minho like lost dogs. Their happy faces and sad ones; the way Gally always wanted to be on an actual mission to be useful as Alby shook his head along with Newt at the absurd request. Minho took a small breath before stepping up to the plate of the battlefield again. “Let’s do this.”

 

Tempest wickedly revealed a toothy smile before blinking out of sight as usual. Perilloux clapped her hands together to omit her same energy wave in a larger scale. Minho blinked for a mere second before opening his eyes that were blooming with hope. Tempest reanimated herself above Minho to send down a thunderbolt, but Minho had already disappeared from her line of sight. In her bewilderment, she scanned the room for the wind-runner. “Wh-What?”

 

“I see through all this,” Minho spontaneously scared Tempest from behind. As she flinched, Minho was choking out the girl before throwing her downwards back to the floor. 

 

Reacting quickly, Perilloux threw her parasol like a spear at Tempest. The lightning girl was able to catch it in the middle of her fall and opened it to reduce the rate she was going to hit the floor. Minho swiped his finger across the air, which caused the air to get awfully dense around Perilloux’s neck. It shortly became water droplets and then those droplets came together to form a bigger body of water. 

 

Perilloux was astonished at the skill before a ring of water was created and proceeded to wrap around her neck perfectly. “Wind and water have become interchangeable with each other,” Perilloux was kneeling to the ground as she used her powers to disrupt the flow of energy on the constricting bind on her neck. “This can mean trouble, Tempest.” 

 

“We have to step it up now,” Tempest was nodding at Perilloux as they swiftly changed their positioning to their favor. Minho was sensing the change in the atmosphere after their words. “Camille!”

 

Minho suddenly had an eerie shiver down his spine as something was coming behind him. He subconsciously turned his head and saw multiple locks of black hair engulf him. How did he not figure that there was an attack from behind? His senses were on the prowl, but Camille was able to lurk through as if she was a ghost.

 

After a moment, the night-like hair retreated back to its source. Minho was going to cut off all the hair if it was not such a surprising attack. He looked to see he was surrounded by the enemy all over again. “This just doesn’t play out right for me, doesn’t it?” Minho sighed as his enemies shared a faint chuckle. 

 

Not wasting a second to talk more, everyone began their attack on Minho. It would become a problem if they managed to close the distance to the point of close combat. Minho was not going to let everything fall on him again. It was going to be  _ different  _ this time.

 

March commenced the first attack on the wind-runner, summoning up an updraft of petals to surround Minho and cover for his comrade. “Sweeping Petals!”

 

“Blade Dance,” Camille followed up through the diversion that March purposefully set up. Her arms and hands morphed into long-edged blades. She jumped in as if she was in ballet and began slashing indiscriminately in wide lengths to ensure one hit on Minho.

 

Camille looked at her blades and noticed not a single trace of blood was laid. March released his control over his powers and allowed Camille to see where Minho really was. “No way,” she commented as she realized that the hybrid runner was not where he should be.

 

March could feel where the presence was and directed his attention behind Archie and Omar. An instinct for protection kicked in, and March was shouting and pointing to show everyone where to focus, “There!”

 

Omar grabbed a few knives from Archie’s belt and threw it directly over his head without actually looking to see what was above him. Archie was the only one of the two males to direct his head upwards to see what was the clamor about.

 

Minho knew the trick to the knives as he stayed afloat over the heads of Archie and Omar. He controlled the wind direction and redirected it to Perilloux and Tempest. If the situation played out to Minho’s prediction, then Omar would not detonate the knives with his powers to keep his teammates safe. 

 

Unmoved about the incoming objects, Perilloux and Tempest merely took a step to the side away from each other to dodge the knives. 

 

“At least I’m correct,” Minho shrugged as he admired the view from above. At least until March and Tempest were flashing around at high speeds before reappearing in front of Minho. “Oh, come on.”

 

Tempest gave him a wink before unleashing a strong downwards lash with her whip. March kept his cool and took the time to wait for his opportunity to strike. In obvious reasons, Minho had to dodge the first attack, but he was unlucky to be hit by the second attack, which was a quick gale by March. 

 

It forced back Minho as their aerial battle took place. As something that he learned, the elements at his hands was his sword and shield. They could take physical form depending on his level of concentration and power. Minho closed his eyes and took another breath of his atmosphere into his body. “I am not afraid. I am awakened. I am not  _ weak _ .”

 

Tempest released a cackle before she was sending forth lightning needles from one swing of her whip. “Blue Storm!”

 

“Memories Caught in the Wind,” Minho announced an official attack he felt was residing in his soul. A faint image of the wind was conjuring up a bow before drawing back his arrow. Although not necessarily seen, Minho could feel its power resonating back at him of its capabilities. Every little thing he missed in his past, the fondness, the proximity, was coming back to life in a single arrow.

 

March glanced at the recreation of a commonly old weapon. The vibes were indicating that there were was more to that attack than what he or his comrades were used to facing before. If this managed to hit Tempest, it would be over in an instant. He had to help equalize the power difference between Tempest and Minho. “Dance: Rippling Gale!” 

 

Although only a few seconds late in its command, Minho had already let the arrow pierce through space, and it silently roared as it flew. Sounds were suppressed; it was like a quiet flashback to one’s intimate and secret past. It tore through the combined attacks of Tempest and March before it made contact with the floor. 

 

Tempest let out a small choke before gasping hard after she hit the floor on her exposed back. The faint and blurry memory of someone that used to stand proudly in front of Tempest as she laid on the floor. Their bent back and offered a hand, so the memories were still haunting Tempest to an extent. A will to get stronger was still planted in her mind. “Do-ler…”

 

An air, unlike anything March, had faced before—the strength of it was incredible and worthy of awe. The hard working hands from the Chancellor appeared in March’s mind. He could imagine being back in the safety of his mind where he was shaking hands with Kevin to promise to work hard for the future of W.I.C.K.E.D.

 

By the time March realized what happened next, he was already far away from Minho and was unable to move from the cold ground. In a way, the itch in his back that was driving him crazy was dissipating away like a small breeze along a meadow. Perhaps he had underestimated his opponent this one time.

 

Minho was breathing heavily as his power was relatively weakening. It had to be due to a large amount of concentration he was forcing himself to endure the greater powers of his opponents. His body was aching in a burn as if someone had ice rubbing against his raw skin in a slow motion to let it prolong the pain. “Goddamn,” he jaggedly wavered in the air, “not now.” Minho was floating down slowly. It then picked up speed. He was falling like a meteor to the floor. “Shit.”

 

“I got you!” Ophelia uttered, ushering a flood of the remaining water in the tank to encase Minho in. 

  
Kevin duly sat in his seat as he witnessed something profound—Minho had to be a trump card. He smiled to himself before announcing to the intercom to commence the end of the training. His soldiers would no longer be needed if Kevin could use Minho instead to achieve greater power.


	7. War and Peace; Yin and Yang

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, yes~ I have returned to post this chapter. I would like to still thank everyone that was keeping up w/ this story and whatnot. You are all wonderful readers. I enjoy all the attention y'all give this story. I am also here to inform everyone that this story will be postponed from being on constant work to give efficient updates due to college life invading my personal time once again. A lot of my life is quite a mess, but I would like this story to stay a mess that I am proud of c: I wish everyone the greatness of luck, and I hope all of you are okay and feeling good. If not, it's okay to not feel okay. Let's have a good read~

Thomas sat to himself on top of an old building. He was not exactly a bad person, for he had built a new home for people to be safe in. He took in places to expand his kingdom, but he knew he was going to face consequences if he did it without the consideration of what it had done to people’s typical lives. On his defense, Thomas figured that an empty or evacuated city, state even, was useless to have around. He could use it to form something else creatively.

 

There were people that lived in the Earth Kingdom besides the Six Wonders. They lived life as protected as ever from fights as Thomas always positioned the immunes or those that did not want to fight to safe distances from places that were known to be attacked. If they managed to be attacked still, Thomas could easily defend them and also move the kingdom like chess pieces on a board to strategically cut the damages that would be done to the homes of these people.

 

The earth-runner finished contemplating about his decisions because it was beginning to give him a sore headache. It was awfully lonely than usual, though. The sound of laughter in distance made him want to smile as if he could hear the joke someone was cracking. It would be a lie if Thomas told himself that he was not envious of them. 

 

Perhaps the loneliness of the king was because of the empty seat next to his throne. The day was still young to be tasting defeat. A disturbance in the air was felt, and Thomas turned around to see that a portal was being opened right behind him. He was ready to send the intruder to the great depths of the earth for such an uncalled action. 

 

The shape of the portal was a mirror. It revealed a woman before she passed through into the Earth Kingdom without a single detection of anyone else. She spoke before Thomas resorted to anything drastic, “I’m Glados. I was with Nyx when the attack on your throne happened. I also assumed you were the one in dealing the final blow to her as well.” 

 

“Okay,” Thomas was sensing little danger to the woman as she was only a traveler by default. “What do you want?”

 

“An end to W.I.C.K.E.D,” Glados answered, crossing her arms over her chest. “I know it inside and out. I can transport anyone to anywhere that I can remember in my head.”

 

“Mirror of the World,” Thomas quietly realized to whom he was talking to.

 

Intrigued that her name was known by someone almost as powerful as Chancellor Kevin, she smiled before talking, “Yeah, that’s my name. I’m tired of it frankly. Actually, just tired of people using me for wrong purposes.” 

 

“Chha,” Thomas almost scoffed, “I know where you are coming from. I was there too,” his guard came down and was beginning to get comfortable with the stranger in front of him. “I heard of you plenty of times but never really interacted or seen your face. I was the only a simple researcher for the newbies for griever training.” 

 

“How did you end up becoming so powerful then?” Glados was compelled to ask. Information was always something she was tempted to learn about. If it was information on a place, she was heavily invested in the conversation to get to know it because she could use her powers to explore it.

 

“I d-don’t know actually,” Thomas loathed the fact that he was clueless on the question. It never came up to him frankly. “I had an issue for a while. You see, I had split-personality disorder after the intense experimentation done on me by WCKED. They wanted to achieve an artificial runner. It failed horribly and gave me a side of my brain that had to endure the pain and suffering while the innocent me took a nice nap. Thus, that side would inevitably remember nothing once it took over.”

 

“Ah,” Glados nodded her head slowly. Her light footing led her to the edge of the building before looking over the view. “So once your head came to terms with each other, you became ‘whole’ again.”

 

“Exactly.”

 

“Yikes, kid,” Glados shook her head. She was disappointed in the sense that WCKED would do something illicit to its own members, especially towards immunes. Artificial runners? That was absurd beyond belief. “Well, your ‘other’ side was getting to work on training himself to become strong then.”

 

“You don’t say,” Thomas stared deeply into his hands as it glowed orange.

 

Understanding that the powers of the Mirror of the World was available in front of him, Thomas had to ask a question to satisfy his curiosity. “You think your mirror can take me to my boyfriend?”

 

“Psft, is that even a question?” Glados laughed before realizing the dead seriousness in Thomas’ eyes. “Well, I mean I can if you know the exact location he’ll be in. I can only transport myself or others to places that I’ve been to or at least seen images of.”

 

“I know he’s in WCKED HQ, but I don’t know anything else about where his whereabouts would be,” the little hope in Thomas was fluttering away. The emotion was becoming unstable and dark. Something mixed with the poison that Nyx had injected into him. The word love stood heavenly over Thomas’ soul, but the shadow it produced was tremendously lonely. 

 

“Okay, well, there’s this technically I have been practicing,” Glados intervened, fiddling with her fingers as if she was trying to hold back on tell this information. “I can  _ show  _ you to somewhere or to someone as long as you have a very strong affiliation the place or person you want to go to.”

 

As if the tornado that was causing a disaster in Thomas’ heart had calmed down and filled the meadow with little buds of hope and determination. “Please. Please. Even for a moment, just, get me to  _ him _ .”

 

Glados stood a few arm-lengths apart from Thomas, and she opened her mirror portal. “I want you to think of this person. Think strongly of them. Think of them as if they are the last thing left in this world that is keeping you together.” Thomas knew what he was thinking of as it was really as if he was going to fall into despair if he did not come into contact with Minho fast enough. Glados moved her mirror in front of Thomas. “In a situation where you have to go to heaven or hell, you choose this person over both places. Now, breathe onto the reflection of the mirror. Search Through the Mist and Find the Lost.”

 

Thomas closed his eyes and exhaled over the glassy material. “I love you, Minho. Let me find you.”

 

The mirror’s glass became clouded in Thomas’ breath. It fogged the middle then it covered the edges until it was ubiquitous. Waiting for further instruction, Thomas stared into the white cloudy space in front of him. It showed nothing. It had nothing. Why was it nothing? “Hey—”

 

“Now, wipe the glass as much as you see fit,” Glados commanded, closing her eyes.

 

Thomas smiled as if it was the first time in forever he had experienced a genuine smile on his face. It was funny to think in retrospect about it. Earth King held onto the edges of his sleeves with his fingertips and proceeded to clean the window indiscriminately. As inch by inch, the fog disappeared and revealed something that was not a reflection of Thomas’ tired and grown face, it instead showed a male sleeping in his bed as the background was almost like underneath the bottom of the ocean. “Min—”

 

“I’m sorry,” Glados interrupted Thomas, earning the king’s attention by his suddenness. “I can only get so far with this technique. I have not mastered it, so it is tragically limited.”

 

“So,” Thomas placed his palm against the image of the peaceful and asleep male, “what are these limits?”

 

“You can see him,  _ but  _ you can’t talk to him. He doesn’t even know we are watching him despite him being asleep or not. I can hold this image as long as the fog on the mirror doesn’t take over the reflection again.”

 

Thomas stared plainly into the reflection and watched as this person thrashed around in bed before getting up. The blanket that was laid sincerely over their face gently fell. The heartstrings were being used as a tightrope for something heavy to be walking across it. Thomas laughed at first. He laughed frantically before it cracked down, and then the joyous sound turned sad and into a voluminous sob. Finally, it became a full-breakdown. “So cl-close, so fucking close,” Thomas sniffled as he banged against the sturdy glass.

 

“I’m sorry,” Glados genuinely apologized, which was something she was not prone to. She had a hard time connecting with people, but she almost felt the pain that the king, no, Thomas, was hysterically crying about. “My powers were never that great. I think I would be better off as an immune.”

 

Thomas turned his focus away from the mirror. “H-Huh?”

 

“Yes. I would prefer to be an immune than a runner, more less a griever! I have done more terrible things than you have, Earth King,” Glados made the mirror disappear in an instant. She opened another mirror portal behind herself and revealed a location of a ruined city with no obvious indication of where it was located in the world. “This city was thriving with life before. I came here with my squad, and we committed a genocide because its mayor was against having WCKED’s presence in its district. With enough money to cover up the whole damn city after it was destroyed, no one would remember it for what it stood for.”

 

Thomas seeing that the situation took a turn; he wiped away his tears and used his earth-like powers. Pulling the dead city up and bringing it by small quantities through the portal, Thomas thought it was opportune to give it a new meaning. Glados stood by and watched as she looked at passing memories of her crimes. She left the mirror open until Thomas was able to collect the last ounce of a piece of the city into the Earth Kingdom. “I’ll give everyone the future they deserved. One that includes harmony among runners and immunes.”

 

Glados nodded her head as she sent the mirror off to its dimension. Thomas relocated the entire kingdom to fit in the new piece of a puzzle. He was sure that it would thrive in life once it settled into place. Thomas was understanding that there was a term of tranquility that roamed through his kingdom before being plagued with a type of invasion. He wondered how long it would be until the next attack would be… 

 

Meanwhile Minho yawned in bed as he contemplated whether he was going to eat first or train. The intensity of his sparring matches was being a burden on his shoulders to get stronger. An odd sense of peace was assimilating itself among Minho’s emotions. His energy was melting into a batter with his spirit. In a way, it felt like someone was calling his name from a distance. Being comical with himself, he told himself, “Thomas, you little shuck.”

 

Glados gave a small pat on Thomas’ back as she admired the cool view of the Earth Kingdom. “Is it always this calm?”

 

“Mostly,” Thomas replied. “Defecting from WCKED would mean you would have to face the same teammates that you fought with in the past. You know that, right?”

 

Glados was hushed by the question, but she knew that if she chose this path for herself that it would lead to this consequence ultimately. Even without Nyx and Charon there, the rest of the original grievers were a tough crowd of runners. They would annihilate Glados the instant they find out that she deflected. “Oh my,” Glados sighed as she massaged her temple. “I figured that at the very least. No use of falling over the spilled milk on the aisle. Just put a caution sign and move on.”

 

Thomas commented nothing afterward. He simply waved it off and proceeded to enjoy the rest of his view in grace. The earth-runner was inundated with positivity that Minho was being kept safe, at least Thomas assumed, and all Thomas had to do was bust Minho out of WCKED’s hands. However, if Nyx’s last words were proved true, then Thomas had no idea on what he could do in that predicament. 

 

Glados wanted to enjoy the sight until a sudden force was compelling her to kneel. At first it was subtle, but it intensified in power. Thomas noticed the grunts coming from the female and rushed to her side. Realizing that the gravity field was altered, he called out, “Mona!”

 

“What? I saw her peering from below and thought you needed some help containing this griever,” Mona appeared past the edge of the building. She stayed afloat as she continued to talk, “Especially one from the  _ original _ grievers.”

 

“Thank you for being on the guard,” Thomas made an awkward face as he realized the brawl that was about to break out, “but can you not attack her? She’s deflecting to us.”

 

“The Mirror of the World? No way,” Mona held her grip tighter as did the heavy force that was laid on Glados’ back. “I know the original grievers. I know who each of them are. I  _ was  _ a griever for WCKED once.”

 

“W-What?” Thomas recollected his words, but he realized it was an opportune moment for Glados and Mona to connect. “Perfect! You understand how she feels then!”

 

“No, you see, the grievers are nothing like loyal guard dogs of WCKED. However, the original grievers are the ultimate example of what WCKED trained to the bone. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks, Thomas,” Mona confessed on her point.

 

Unbelivably, the edge of the building expanded and smacked Mona hard in the gut, causing her to spit out a bit before releasing her powers on Glados. Thomas sighed as he used the same ledge to pick up Mona and throw her back on the roof with them. She rolled over with pain as she was trying to maintain a calm breathing. Thomas had to admonish her first, “You should have listened to what I was saying, but you were getting too violent on our new teammate.”   
  


“Sorry,” Mona pouted a little. She put on her black hood as she stood up on her feet “You too,” the gravity-runner held out a hand to Glados.

 

“Thank you,” Glados appreciated the help. Although, the attack was too much. “I will see to be of use to the team as much as possible. How did you even escape WCKED, though?”

 

“It’s simple. I crushed the power generator and used the little time I bought to make a run for it. I had to plan everything out for a few months before finally putting it into action,” Mona articulated without a problem. She was so open with her past as if it did not bother her to talk about it to a stranger.

 

Mona figured if the Earth King was going to defend a suspicious griever, then there was no use to fight over it. She would lose either way. However, she was surprised that for someone that was supposed to control earth, Thomas could manipulate the surrounding buildings to fight for him. In conclusion, fighting Thomas would really only mean to pick a fight with the  _ entire  _ Earth Kingdom. 

 

Having no place to be further interrupting Thomas’ space, Mona took her leave and began to walk off the ledge but continued in a straight path. Her feet never feeling what it was like to fall. A little white fabric was showing where the tailbone would be; a section that the black hoodie did not cover fully. Underneath the hoodie, she had another jacket that belonged to WCKED with her ID on it—G0069.

 

****

 

Thomas was confined to his own quarters when he felt the sudden need to pee. At least it showed that he was not some Godly entity because he still had to take shits and pee like everyone else. Thomas made a bathroom appear from the ground and felt sly for using his powers in such a gross manner. 

 

In a different section of the kingdom, Dolores was walking besides Mona down a destroyed street. Dolores was still holding her usual pride while Mona was radiating a carefree aura. Ahead of these two was Charles as he seemed to be investing underneath a broken down car. Upon approaching, Dolores was the one to make their presence known. “What are you doing, Charles?”

 

The older man flinched as a reaction before realizing that it was only his teammates. “Oh, you two.”

 

“Agitated like your fire ants,” Mona cracked a little joke. She was able to earn a smile from Charles, but there was nothing else to it besides that.

 

“If you were a gnat, natural selection would already be on your ass,” Charles retorted, resuming his investigation. “Besides, I’m trying to find a bug that got lost. One of the people living in this area said they saw it underneath this specific car.”

 

Dolores made a cringing face while Mona looked underneath to see nothing to her eyes. Suddenly, the area around the car deflated into the earth as if it was similar works from their Earth King. However, the car that reached the center of the pit and was instantly met with a giant pair of pinchers. Dolores and Mona remained in mid-air thanks to their abilities, but Charles traveled downwards to the center to meet the destructive creature.

 

“It’s a giant antlion, huh?” Mona clarified with Dolores, who nodded her own head in response. 

 

Charles reached the center and dove into the earthy material to talk to his pet. Without a moment of suspense, he reappeared on top of the head of his antlion that grew a hundred times its typical size. Mona was slightly intrigued, but Dolores was disconnected with the subject. Perhaps it was not her idea of something to discuss with.

 

Charles’ powers were not something Dolores found ubiquitous in the world of runners. It was not an element of air, earth, or fire. It was an evolutionary step that was bestowed upon Charles’ fingers. If the powers could reach things that were not part of the insect family, then it would become a supreme power as it stood. Worth acknowledging it, Dolores had to look down to Charles, “You know, you have an extraordinary power, Charles.”

 

“Psft, it surely is. It’s better than your worthless paper, that’s for sure,” Charles bragged shamelessly. Mona laughed as she flew away, knowing the outcome would result in something of a ‘friendly spar.’

 

“Repent Your Sins,” Dolores commanded. Her arms were flicking off into paper mache before each individual piece spun on its own. The pieces all connected to form a giant cross before dropping down upon Charles’ antlion.

 

Charles’ instincts picked up, and it resonated inside of his soul of what he needed to do. He was going to show no mercy to someone, not even a teammate, that would dare attack him. His own color radiated off of him as the object was falling, but it halted without Dolores’ permission. Upon Dolores’ decision, she dispelled the paper and allowed it to fly back into her body as Charles began to stand down. 

 

“Sorry,” Charles wanted to spit, but he figured it had to come out either way.

 

“Agreed,” Dolores turned her back and flew over to where Mona was smiling in the distance. “Cheeky, you are.”

 

Mona shrugged as she figured if she did not intervene, then the fight really would have broken out. Eventually, Thomas would come out and turn the situation to dust before admonishing all of them for not doing rational actions in the kingdom. “Don’t attack because you are provoked. Attack only when your life depends on it.”

 

“Wise, my friend,” Dolores calmly smirked at the comment.

 

****

 

The Bewitching Flower of Passion was nicknamed after the sister that she lost. Her robes danced to the madness in her head before constricting its enemies into their end. Maria was sleeping peacefully on the hammock that she made with her powers. It was great to be located near the garden of flowers. The air contained sweet, fresh pollen while a few petals rode the wind.

 

If only life could be this relaxing… 

 

Maria yawned lazily before stepping off of her hammock. Her cloth returning to her arms, perfectly aligned to her skin as if it were catered to her measurements. A little boy and his younger sister were picking at the daisies before Maria approached them. “Hiya~” Maria gleefully greeted the children. The two kids were shocked at the sudden kindness that she was displaying and ran away. Unsure of what was so intimidating about herself, Maria shrugged and probably guessed that it was too out of the blue. Their parents must have told them to not to talk to suspicious people. “Can’t blame them,” Maria chuckled before gazing into the sun for a short while. 

 

A mirror appeared behind Maria, and Glados entered into the different plane of reality. “Please refrain from harming me.”

 

Maria was ready to lash her weapon but sensed nothing hostile coming from Glados. Standing down, “Whadda want, twerp?” 

 

“Thomas told me where you would be located. You’re the last person I need to apologize for fighting that one time,” Glados gracefully bowed her head at Maria.

 

Seeing the respectful gesture, Maria could care little about petty past. “Fair enough, Mirror of the World.”

 

“So you know of my existence,” Glados was gently surprised.

 

Maria chuckled before speaking, “I know what you are capable of. Actually, we’ve met  _ before  _ already.”

 

Glados was unable to recall much besides her haunting past and days of being locked up in darkness. Curious to know, Glados had to ask, “Where and when?”

 

“Well, it’s not like we actually talked or anything,” Maria was walking away from Glados, knowing the other female would follow along. “You were gazing at towering sakura tree alone in Japan. I was about to ask what you were doing before you jumped into that mirror and disappeared. Along the line of my life, I figured out who you really are.”

 

“You’re really something, runner,” Glados casually walked upon the dirt road. It was a beautiful day of peace. It was something she secretly missed after being blinded in darkness. The world so vividly painted in bright and lively colors was almost too much for Glados to handle. While staring into the ray of sunlight, Glados could vaguely remember the moment she was at Japan to give her final wishes by the sakura tree. 

 

An important friend was scattered there. It was so long since Glados did that, to spend a little time to send her prayers to the dead. “Let’s go there together, right now.” Glados felt her spontaneity arise in herself. Maria smiled warmly but agreed with a nod. 

 

The mirror appeared in front of Glados after she did the chant to call it. Maria walked through it along with the griever, and the first sensation they were greeted with was the misty cold. No one was around, so it was only left to Maria and Glados to roam as they pleased. A memory was pulled from under the bed and tucked safely into the blanket of safety. Glados had sad eyes, but she shed not a single tear. 

 

“It’s exactly how I remembered it,” Glados muttered, steadily but carefully walking close to the giant tree and touching the bark as if it was the first time she had ever touched it.

 

“Yeah, huh,” Maria followed behind without really engaging with the texture of the tree. She shivered a little in her clothing, but she figured it was not the time to complain. It was strange to see the mist clear to reveal the many branches limping in front of their faces. It was something supposed to be lovely, but the simple idea of a mist changed the message. 

 

Maria took off her stole and let it hang loosely on a few twigs on the branch. The glow on it disappeared, going from a bright limegreen to something dull yellow. The vivid life it possessed died and returned its energy back to Maria. “Littering is illegal here, Maria,” Glados mentioned without turning her back. 

 

“Oh, shaddap,” Maria huffed her chest nonchalantly, taking prideful strides to Glados’ side. “Not like anyone besides you will witness me doing it.”

 

“I was just playing a joke.”

 

“Oh, whatever.”

 

The two calmly took the time to talk and get close to one another. The projected their thoughts as dreams, which would become their objectives in their remaining life. It was technically a war zone that they were in living in, and they agreed that it was okay to kill in the condition of their situation. Glados understood where Maria was coming from, and it was something interesting to see what it was like to relate to the people that were not included in the giant white building of WCKED.

 

****

 

Jokes could go as far as cheering up someone’s day. It was something that was noticeable to the brain that would send signs to laugh and cry about. Chancellor Kevin walked down the hallways that he grew accustomed to, and he would know that the door coming in 20 feet would piss him off every so often. It was a lounge room made for his co-workers, and it was usually filled with laughter and happiness. 

 

They cracked a joke and a paroxysm of laughter would erupt. Kevin was nonetheless a joy-killer. The moment he entered the room, and suddenly the room entered a state of silence and heavy seriousness. In a way, the Chancellor wanted to laugh about things here and there, but he understood where his ranking in the food chain was. He was not intimidated by their actions, so he poisoned the room with something that they could  _ laugh  _ about until they were out of breath. 

 

Intentionally, this was Kevin’s version of a joke. He would not dare kill his co-workers when there was plenty of objectives to strive for. He cured all of them of their illness before exiting the room with a devilish grin. It was something that enticed him when he snuffed out the sight of something positive. In the reflection of Chancellor Kevin was something he was going to accomplish for his ego, it was going to defeat God itself and make it beg on its knees. This God happened to also be someone on Earth, which was conveniently placed in Earth Kingdom itself. Escaping Kevin’s mouth as dryly as a raisin in the sun, he said, “Earth King.”

 

Kevin took solitude in his office and proceeded to grab his tablet to check the live-stream of a beetle blade hidden inside of Earth Kingdom. He had the little bugger modified to Kevin’s liking, knowing it had to go over its own expectations. The first thing he observed as he saw through the eyes of the machine was the image of civilians roaming old remnants of streets and buildings. Kevin took a mental note of the discovery. “Interesting, the kingdom has evolved to sustain human life.”

 

As insidious as police brutality, Kevin activated the new feature that was on the beetle blade. It sent out a signal that was strong enough to reach across to where HQ was. The coordinates were extracted from the machine to the lab full of W.I.C.K.E.D.’s top scientists. They began running around pressing buttons and checking frequencies meanwhile stabilizing them. Once the proper procedures were done being prepared, the head scientist pressed one last button to activate the device they created to mimic  _ Glados’  _ powers. 

 

The beetle blade transferred to another location that was hidden from society. It took refuge in an abandoned building and expanded its body to look like a portal. Seeing as it was about time the war was to reach its climax, Kevin left his office to go to the portal that was about to open in their lab. On another note, the remaining original grievers were at the lab and waiting for further orders from their highest, strongest commander. 

 

Tempest sat on the floor, bored out of her mind as she was staring directly at the newly opened portal. The original grievers’ objective was already given in their heads: genocide of Earth Kingdom. “This’ll be fun,” Tempest smiled along with Perilloux.

 

Kevin entered the lab as high and mighty as he could be. Everyone stood to face him and knee to honor their powerful leader. “Let’s get this show on the road,” the Chancellor slyly mentioned.


	8. We Pull the Red Strings Closer to Our Fates

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yeaah, long time no update bruh? Sorry y'all. I promise I am not going to give up this fanfic until I have actually completed it! It may take quite some time bc college is some tough shit and life too. I really want everyone out here to be safe and whatnot. A lot has changed recently. Without further explanation, I'll let you all enjoy the long awaited update! 
> 
> Thank you for reading this far on this hell of a story! I promise that chap. 9 is already almost done! I'll try to get it out here soon enough.

Peaceful was what possessed all the citizens of the Earth Kingdom. It was something that Kevin and his group of grievers were going to obliterate from this dimension. In order of ranking, each respective and destructive griever was coming through the surface of the other side of the portal into the Earth Kingdom. Kevin cracked his knuckles before releasing his powers over his grievers and forcing them under his villainous rule. Minho was locked in the training dome to proceed his regular routine with the Three Sisters as the madness was about to begin.

 

A kid running down the ruins encountered a particular maiden-dressed woman. The kid stared from the luxurious-styled shoes to the tip of the umbrella that was providing shade for the woman. “Are you lost?” The stunning woman bent down to greet the child.

 

“No, are you?”

 

“Perhaps I am. Would you show me the way back to where you came from?” The woman gently and warmly asked with her hand offered in an honest manner. “I’m Perilloux, by the way.” 

 

****

 

“Oh god! Please help me!” A mother was pressing her injured child to her breast. Her weeping was bluntly loud, but it was silenced by the deafening screaming that was resonating throughout the area. Most of the citizens were transported to a remote and safe location because of Thomas’ great powers. It was hard to save a few of the people that were caught in the spontaneous path of the original grievers and Kevin. It was beyond unexpected for Thomas to see how fast the battle came to them.

 

Glados was doing her best to transport as many of the citizens as she could, but even she could not save the dead. The real problem laid in how the enemy planned out their pathway of murder. It started out on the small southside before it spread out to different locations. An attack at different directions made it difficult for Thomas to rely on a sanctuary for the many people residing in the Earth Kingdom. Although, he was able to confine the rescued people to one area in an attempt to save them. 

 

His Wonders were distributed to different parts of the kingdom to deal with the new threat. It was under his best interest to stand close to the people to protect them from the worst possible enemy. Once he finished getting every person he could possibly get in his safe location, Thomas was going to apprehend the enemies himself and deal with the threat personally. 

 

Being the first ones to be dispatched to the scene, Maria was walking down a dusty road as she noticed the person that was responsible for the obvious crater that was not there before. It was a small boy that was sitting at the center of the crater he created, and Maria was going to speak first, but she was left speechless when the boy talked instead, “Bewitching Flower of Passion.” 

 

“Common name coming out of people’s mouths nowadays, especially from lil’ bastards that disturb the peace,” Maria sheepishly commented, not liking the fact that her opponent was going to be a mere child.

 

“Griever ID. No. 0008. Codename: Exploding Youth. You can just call me Omar, though,” the griever was picking himself off of the dirt ground, wiping dust particles from his the bottom of his pants.

 

“I hate educating kids,” Maria sighed, shaking her head, cracking the stole on her arms and shoulders as if it were a whip, “but I see that some are in a serious need for a lesson in life!”

 

“Yeah, yeah,” Omar muttered as if he was talking to his mother, giving a strong swing in a lazy manner at Maria. Subtly, the knife hidden underneath his long-sleeved jacket was thrown directly at Maria’s face. 

 

Her cloth easily captured the thrown object. She examined the item without physically touching it and deemed it safe at first. “Am I supposed to be hurt by this little thing?” Maria scoffed at the kid.

 

“Eh?” Omar had a confused expression on his face and tilted his head. “I mean it was my best shot at defeating you.” 

 

“You’re going to need to do better than just throwing knives around, kid,” Maria was ready to throw the knife away before Omar’s eyes spontaneously transitioned into a deep red color. “What the—”

  
  


****

 

A lightning storm was raging on the westside. Dolores’ heart was pounding as she anticipated that she would be fighting somebody that she did not wish to hurt in any way. Mona accompanied her because there was apparently two signs of a threat at their destination. A paper can only be sharpened by the right hands, and it can be used to cut through the muk that people drown in. 

 

Before Dolores and Mona could take another step, a powerful lightning struck the ground ahead of them and caused them to flinch at the flash. After the burst of energy disappeared, it revealed Tempest right where it hit the raw ground. As the smoke arose into the atmosphere, Perilloux was standing behind Tempest with her usual attire. Dolores was on the defensive, knowing it was not going to be similar like the past. Tempest smiled upon seeing a very familiar and dear face to her, “My, my. Why, isn’t that you, Dore?” 

 

“Tempest,” the name slid off of Dolores’ mouth like honey. Her eyes saddened to see how twisted Tempest was becoming, but she also sensed something wicked in her energy as if it were not completely Tempest’s own aura. It was still unable to be located where the disturbance was like it was underneath Dolores’ sonar. 

 

Perilloux noticed Mona and used her powers to increase the chance of the black hoodie that Mona was wearing to fall apart due to poor construction of the material. Mona had no time to react the second her jacket had fell down to the floor in pieces. Thus, the WCKED jacket that Mona was wearing underneath was revealed to the world. “Oh, my, I do recognize an ex-griever when I see one,” Perilloux snarked at Mona. 

 

Dolores stared at the big numbers that had in print: G0069. “You were part of the organization?”

 

“Yeah, but not anymore,” Mona sighed, seeing that she had no choice but to unleash hell upon Perilloux for such an inconvenience. “Perilloux, you’re going to be mincemeat.” 

 

“I do enjoy a good steak,” Perilloux confessed, pulling together her pink energy to her arms. However, she was forced far back from her teammate because Mona was changing the gravity’s direction. 

 

“I’ll leave you two to reconnect,” Mona winked at Dolores before running after Perilloux. A thunder screeched and ripped the air as the sky remained darkened. It was supposed to be tranquil morning, but it looked like fate had other plans with the winds of change. 

 

“As we were talking,” Tempest was walking towards Dolores, electricity connecting to the earth below her heels, “we have some catching up to do. I think I don’t need to refer to you as master anymore, either.”

 

“Punishment for your sick games will be established, Tempest!” Dolores was stern in her voice, tipping her chin to appear prideful. 

 

They were soon head-to-head to each other. Dolores’ scent of peaches brought Tempest back to her proper mindset. Safety flooding her veins as determination was filling her stomach. She almost regained her sanity, but the insatiable itch returned on her spine. The nose was catching something foul as her eyes faded in and out of reality. She saw Dolores as Dolores, but she was also seeing Dolores as an eyesore that needed to be blasted away from her sight. Raising her hand high, Tempest called upon a lightning strike to her exact location.

 

However, Dolores was not having any of Tempest’s shit. She shielded the two of them with her fortified paper wall. Tempest was overwhelmed with a surprised expression at how protective the enemy was towards her. It was almost bringing a tear to Tempest’s eyes to be shown mercy. “Get off,” Tempest harshly stated, rushing electricity on the surface of her skin to ward off Dolores. 

 

“Tempest,” Dolores’ stern face was apparent, but she was keeping a soft spot in her heart for the griever. 

 

“Stop calling me by that name. I’m G0009: the Passionate Lashes of Fury,” Tempest retorted, reverting her eyes to the ground, knowing there was nothing to stare at besides boring dirt. Her powers ran through the insides of the whips on both sides of her hips. Picking up each weapon in her hands, she smacked the ground with each whip to assert her dominance.

 

“Toys will not hurt adults, my student,” Dolores admonished the other female.

 

“I’m not  _ your  _ student!” Tempest flashed out of the scene before instantly reanimating above of Dolores, “Mjolnir!” A purple lightning unlike anything that was casted came crashing down upon the paper-runner. Its power was awe-provoking as its blast radius deconstructed the atoms of the buildings nearby into nothing. Perhaps the attack was the most deadliest strike that Tempest was supposed to hold as her trump card. 

 

In the far distance from the battle of sentimentality between Dolores and Tempest, Mona and Perilloux were initiating their own fight. Mona quietly kept Lady Luck glued to the surface of the floor. G0007 was awfully offended to have her well-sewn, luxurious, and expensive clothes go to waste to the ground that was not  _ even _ worthy to kiss her breasts. Her hand touched the rough material that she was pressed against and caused a chemical reaction that exploded a small area.

 

Catching Mona off-guard, Perilloux snapped her fingers, sending an instant shockwave of pinkish energy at her opponent. Mona wavered backwards until she hit the bottom of her butt on the solid ground. Perilloux snapped her fingers again, causing the ground to erode and collapse only where Mona was on. “Fall into darkness,” Lady Luck huffed. 

 

“No, thank you,” Mona retorted, standing in midair as the stones beneath her fell into the pit of unknown blackness. Her WCKED jacket flowing as proudly as herself in the draft of the wind. “I know who all of you are. I know what you all are capable of doing.”

 

“Oh, really?” Perilloux flipped the hair on her shoulder to her back. “Please do tell.”

 

“You’re G0007. Codename: Lady Luck. Your powers revolve around luck, and it’s ironic because you can only cast misfortunate events upon your enemies,” Mona explained, shaking her head with her hands revealing their palms, shrugging her shoulders. 

 

“Troublesome runners we encounter along the way,” Perilloux commented, picking up her dropped umbrella. “The honorifics were nice, and you’re not wrong about myself. I am Lady Luck.” 

 

A strong wind was picking up against Mona’s face. It was oddly not supposed to be a forceful wind today. Well, Mona could disagree with that as she was not anticipating a straightforward invasion by WCKED’s top grievers  _ and _ the Chancellor. There was something coming from the section of the kingdom up ahead that was causing it, and the vibes from it was indicating an ominous predisposition. 

 

The two silently stared at each other as a peradventure coursed through the empty area. They were hoping for the other to make a move first. Looking for another window of opportunity to be opened for Mona, she decided to use moral reasoning to aid her in the battle. “Perilloux?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“Do you even have a heart still? Is there remorse inside of that cold heart? Can you even feel wrong?” 

 

No. It was originally what Perilloux was going to say. However, a screw was missing from the cage that was placed in her mind and gave way for her freedom to think to flap its wings again. It was something that caught in Perilloux’s throat. The answer was simple, but her heart was beating rapidly like a captured animal. It was freeing itself by the shackles that  _ someone _ used to contain it. She struggled dearly and was able to say, “Y-Yes,” until her eyes was feeling like wasps were stinging them shut while a rusty knife was digging into her spine, “No! No! No!”

 

A slimy pink goo was trickling down Perilloux’s eyes as if she was crying. She smiled as best as she could before her ears were also dripping the same pink liquid. Lady Luck took the umbrella and opened it in front of Mona, pressing the hidden trigger to launch a rocket from the tip.

 

Mona forced the gravity between herself and the griever to intensify. Once the rocket was released, it met the ground simultaneously and exploded into scraps. Perilloux was sent flying back as Mona indifferently remained where she was. “Yikes. I never liked fighting people that I sort of know of still.”

 

Kevin was accompanied with March as they wandered to find the center of the Earth Kingdom. It was not like it was going to take them years to do so, anyway. Along the way, Kevin halted and noticed that Perilloux was slightly resisting Kevin’s control. It would only end up the same way with Tempest. “Tsk, resistance will only show you suffering. In fact, All of Life is Suffering.”

 

As if on command, Perilloux’s pain augmented to new heights. Voices were beginning to appear in her head, telling her to kill Mona to make the pain disappear. Flames without purpose should be put out for the sake of not being in vain. “Yes,” Perilloux cried pink tears as she understood what the voices meant. She twitched, cracked a muscle, smiled like an alligator lurking on shallow waters. “Lady Luck’s Gamble.”

 

The slime that was excreting from her body peeled off of her skin and stayed afloat. It pieced together, taking a concrete and physical form. First, it was rounding around as it took the shape of a luxurious folding fan. A chain was also being formed at the base as it connected to the last item—a sickle. Her weapons were solidified and sharp as a hunter’s knife. Elegant as it was deadly. Perilloux walked back to the fight with Mona.

 

As the gravity-runner was approaching the griever, Mona noticed the change in aura and atmosphere. The French griever swung and spun her sickle as she fanned herself in a snorty manner. A smile could be seen between each interval of the fan moving. “Let’s gamble nicely, runner,” Perilloux bowed, maintaining all the motion of her objects. 

 

Surreptitiously aware of the sickle slicing away the wind, Mona was going to make the first move as Perilloux was not paying attention. The gravity-runner raised her hand, ready to unleash her powers, but the fingertip of her middle finger was sliced apart in a clean manner. Frozen, petrified, afraid that the reality of a war was making itself known inside of Mona’s mind. “Fu-ck!” Mona retreated as she kept the flow of her blood stable. 

 

Subconsciously, her gravity held the sickle that was coming for her head in midair. Her heart stopped again, realizing how close to death she was. Meanwhile Perilloux remained composed and calm, simply touching the surface of the ground with the tip of her fan. Mona was suddenly faced with the earth rumbling and being forced to stay off the ground. From directly below, the top layer of the surface erupted into bright pink essence. “Fuck,” Mona sighed, accepting that she had no other choice but to accept and endure the attack.

 

****

 

Charles intercepted an enemy from proceeding to the center of the kingdom. He had no idea what the griever was capable of, but she was beyond slippery. It was as if she walked between rifts to dodge every single attack he sent out. His bugs were unable to land a bite nor sting on the opponent. “What are you?” Charles was flabbergasted. 

 

“G0005: Monster Under the Bed,” the griever’s high heels crunched the particles of stone below her feet. “My name is also called Camille.”

 

“What kind of slippery powers?” Charles stood his ground, unsure if she was going to do something spontaneous. The antlion that was beneath the ground was waiting for orders to disrupt the silence of the battle and consume the girl.

 

Camille took a step forward closer to Charles, and he began the signal with his body glowing in its individual color. The antlion rushed to eat away layers upon layers of soil and dirt until it broke through the surface and proceeded to launch its open jaws at Camille. The griever smirked as her body expanded to overwhelm the clenching force of the antlion. Charles was unsure of what he saw as his bug was pierced in multiple areas around the head by spikes. 

 

“Body manipulation,” Charles muttered, noticing how inconvenient that made it for him against his Naturalism. It was something that was going to be a challenge. However, evolution was always able to step up to the plate. “I’ve encountered the most troublesome enemy.” 

 

****

 

The changing tides were unseen by Bryan. He was ordered to remain guard of front gate of the shelter that Thomas established for the innocent runners and immunes that resided in Earth Kingdom. Bryan was prepared for the enemy as he stood confidently on his feet. A foray into the heart would be denied, for it would be Bryan’s task to prevent it from happening. A secondary task was also handed to Bryan by Thomas, but he saw it was nothing too serious in comparison to his first objective. 

 

A hunter took his own shelter on top of an emptied building. He took an arrow from the quiver and aligned it to his bow. His sight was clear as well, creaking sounds came from the cam of his compound bow. Archie was about a hundred yards away, and he was able to get a clear shot of Bryan. “Bleed, the Arrow of My Blood.” The silver-tipped weapon diluted into a crimson red before it was released from his fingertips.

 

It was almost to its destination when Bryan felt its aura collide with his own. It was fortunate to have psychic powers, for it saved his life from being sniped out. He examined the arrow and noticed how bloody it looked. “Something different from normal,” Bryan commented, redirecting its path to its origin of trajectory. “Let’s seek you out.”

 

The arrow swelled under Bryan’s powers before it exploded in blood. It surprised Bryan but did not necessarily drench him in its substance. As it was stated before, it was  _ really  _ thankful to have psychic powers. His mind held all the blood in its place and examined once more at any abnormalities. Seeing its explosion was covering a vast range, it could have been a… “Distraction!” 

 

Looking immediately above, a rain of arrows were coming down upon Bryan. Not having much time from the fleeting distance of the arrows to himself, Bryan had not choice but to use the red blood as his shield. He fortified his powers into the blood and made it capable to block a considerable amount of the attack. Luckily, it was regular arrowheads that were coming down. 

 

Seeing no point of wasting the bloody liquid, Bryan kept it around as a way to taunt the enemy, whenever they were hiding.

 

Archie had made a move already from the moment his initial plan failed. He was no longer found at the top of the building. It was going to be notable that the distance was impeccable as it hid and kept Archie’s presence a secret from the runner he was hunting. All it would take to lose was to get into the range of the psychic-runner, so Archie had to play his cards unfairly smart. Only subtly closing the distance between his opponent and himself, it was going to be a challenge to not accurately know where the perimeter of control that the psychic-user had.

 

Meanwhile, as the fight between the Wonders and original grievers were taking place, Thomas and Glados were secretly preparing to travel through the Glados’ mirror to retrieve an important factor to the battle. A trump card, perhaps to better word it in Thomas’ case. Not wasting much time unless Thomas wanted his kingdom to be utterly taken over, he and Glados slipped through the security of WCKED HQ and entered its premises without being detected. 

 

Glados peeked around to ensure their position was not going to be compromised so soon. Thomas sheepishly nodded and scratched the back of his neck, wondering if it was really a good idea to come back to the HQ of W.I.C.K.E.D. itself. There were too many memories that Thomas did not want to have ruling his mind. “Follow my lead,” Glados walked towards a door that was strictly labelled as the ‘Control Room.’ 

 

Upon entering, a small group of scientist were inspecting their individual group of grievers. The monitored a wide range of areas: the bathroom to the training dome; they even had the bedrooms of grievers recorded. A passing scientist was involved in their tablet before looking up to see Thomas and Glados blocking the doorway. “Ah… Ahhhh! Securi—”

 

“I don’t think that’s necessary,” Glados opened a calculated portal and pulled out a gun, aiming towards the pack of scientists. “Everyone, stay calm!”

 

Thomas was unable to control the earth from their positioning without it being too delayed of a response. Then he remembered the important aspect of Glados, she was a transporter. As if his mind was read, another portal was opened and revealed a vast land of sand. He took it without much thought and brought a decent amount out from the mirror. 

 

_ Beggars can’t be choosers _ , Thomas thought.

 

Glados quietly inspected all the workers to see if any of them would dare move or call for a rescue. “Minho, we are looking for Minho. A runner in griever-training that is capable of controlling the wind,” she laid out her demands explicitly, knowing how fast the scientists could find the person they were looking for. “We want to know where his room is, and you all better do it fast!”

 

****

 

Kevin laughed to himself, causing March to be concerned with his superior’s actions. The Chancellor’s powers were being irritated as he understood where it came from and what it meant. “It looks like the king managed to take the similar plan as mine. However, it won’t be  _ that  _ easy to reclaim his precious wind,” Going accordingly to his plans, Kevin was able to implement his powers into the WCKED’s system, predicting for an attack from within the base from Thomas beforehand. It was not like Kevin was going to let unfavorable possibilities remain as a hinderance in his plans. Kevin was focusing his powers around each camera that had a griever in its sight before unleashing a slimy substance over each person. “You’re walking into the cave of monsters, Thomas. What shall you do now?”

 

Within the training dome, Minho and the Three Sisters were practicing on Minho’s water abilities. They were even teaching him their techniques in hopes that he could proceed the girls. There were other grievers in the area, and it was different to train altogether for Minho. It reminded him of high school and how in P.E. they would do something similar with the students, putting them inside of the gym to play different sports in one area. 

 

A griever with the ability to use magnetism looked at the walls of the room and noticed something offsetting. “Hey guys, what’s that?”

 

Visibly, the walls of shiny white light were being consumed in a disgusting purple. Everyone noticed it and were conscious of not getting in its way. Minho and the Three Sisters were receiving dreadful vibes from it and was about to warn everyone to stray away from it. Although, it was too late for a retreat. Multiple grievers were being swallowed by the slime. 

 

Not dealing with being brainwashed again, the Three Sisters put up a defensive water barrier to encase themselves and Minho. “This just doesn’t stop, huh?” Ophelia mentioned, motioning her arms to follow the flow of her powers with her sisters. 

 

“Kevin didn’t mention anything like this!” Minho was baffled as he observed the grievers that were attacked turned into slaves to insanity. 

 

They did not attack Minho nor the Three Sisters; they merely walked out of the dome and was never seen in the room again. 

 

Unsure of how to react precisely, Minho stepped outside from the barrier and watched their surroundings. Soon as it was deemed clear, the Three Sister left their defenses down. “It seemed like something unusual is happening in WCKED,” Ophelia commented.

 

“I believe so, too,” Sapphire added, walking towards the exit of the dome. “We have to follow them.”

 

“Nowhere those grievers go now will be safe, anyways,” Shelly was following her sister’s lead.

 

As they followed the slow-moving, brainwashed grievers, the group realized that there was about over twenty more grievers crowding the pathway. There was something big in the direction they were heading in, and the controlled grievers paid no attention to the Three Sisters and Minho. It was a fortunate opportunity, which was not as often as they wished for it to be. Minho’s heart palpitated to random occurrence in fear of something to be devastating ahead of them. 

 

****

 

Due to being overwhelmed by the number of grievers against Thomas and Glados, they were forced to head upwards to the surface to prevent them being cornered. They could transport at least anywhere that Glados remembered from her past days as a griever before being locked up, so she immediately settled with putting Thomas and herself at the front entrance of WCKED HQ.

 

They knew the location to find Minho and could take themselves to the wind-runner, but then the purple slime of hell had to take over most of the grievers and security camera footage. Not only that, the grievers began coming one by one as if they were told of Glados’ and Thomas’ location on the spot. If it was not an overt sign that Kevin was intervening, Glados would gladly eat wood chips and nails for breakfast for the next ten years.

 

“I hope you’re ready for a fight, Earth King,” Glados warned, noticing the sliding doors being opened, revealing the hoard of grievers coming forth with lifeless eyes directed at them. 

 

“It’s a contradiction to have powers that cause war and also peace,” Thomas’ orange glow radiated brightly, determining whether he should eliminate all the  _ pests  _ in his way to Minho or to prevent himself from giving all the grievers a road to death. A timeline of pain and love were stuck on the cassette player on an agonizing repeat.  

 

Minho and his fellow friends were walking to the expanded elevator that was 50 feet away. The hoard would stop one moment and moved again to fill the capacity of the elevator like children entering a rollercoaster. His heart’s wings were beating against its cage, raging to fight the fleeting light of salvation. Time losing its quick speed to the poison of anxiety. 

 

“What a bothersome predicament,” Thomas sighed, letting his gatling guns fire away earthy pellets at the enemies. It was easy to control the battlefield to his favor, knowing that the whole place was his element’s material. A risky game of chess as the pieces move to their destination while another piece plots the next three steps ahead of its opponent. It was a matter of luck, patience, and a shot in the dark; something that Thomas was willing to give to fate.

 

“You will not have Minho,” a griever, a young teenager, spoke out. 

 

“He will be your end,” another griever that was the same age as the other but was a female.

 

“I will not let this war end with you reigning victory. Not until you bow to your knees and taste the sole of my shoes!” A synchronized mixture of all the opposing grievers conveyed the message of their master. Their echoed voices could be heard from miles away as they marched forward against the barrage by Thomas. “Haha! A happy ending where you meet your fated lover and go off into the sunset? My sweet, naive Thomas. You  _ are _ living in a fairytale, but it’s about time things got grim.”

 

“Regardless of being immune, runner, or griever,” Thomas ceased his fire, surprising the movement of the grievers on the other side, “I’m not giving up on getting back the one I love. If he hates me, that’s fine! If he wants to discard me, that’s fine! I will get hurt properly. No more running away.”

 

Thomas was fully-pledged to the willpower of his love. His glassy eyes were threatening to shatter and boil in feelings. The world of reality and the world of fantasy was colliding like a runaway train; two different directions finally on the same track. For every memory of Minho laughing, Thomas fired a boulder from his earth cannon. For every memory of Minho crying because of how he lost something cherishable, Thomas would create spiked ground to make the enemy weary to step forward. 

 

For every memory of Minho telling Thomas that he loved him, Thomas would create an earthquake to quiver the stepping of the grievers. A broken heart swelled with hope, fear, and excitement that it developed a motivation for Thomas to endure the hardships that were thrown at him. 

 

A griever sent an ice storm while another fired an energy pulse. Through the rings of spinning rays of light and sharp air, explosions create debris to float violently in the air. If love was a spear, Thomas would fearlessly penetrate every wall with its silver-fined tip. The bullets traced with lead as the gun barrel rolled and clanked back. The archers rearmed themselves with arrows from their quivers. The sun was going to set in red with a faint appearance of yellow before it boils over to black.

 

Minho was halfway up the elevator, pounding his feet against the steel plating of the floor. The crowd was suffocating the personal space that he kept for himself. The Three Sisters were stuck in a separate corner as they quietly observed their surroundings. The brainwashed zombies of grievers were twitching as sporadic as the chirping of a cricket.With humid air, bodies pressed and pushed against each other as Minho’s patience was a fickle plant that refused to grow under these conditions. 

 

Thomas had too many openings in his offensive that needed to be covered, and Glados was committing to her own share of work, evading and summoning up mirrors to absorb incoming attacks. Combined attacks from various sources was proving to be difficult to match, Thomas was running on every ounce of energy that was resided in his spirit. A woman with seductive black hair, whipped her locks and curls that also unleashed a barrage of needles towards Thomas. In the span of a second to react, he was in the motion of a summoning a wall to guard his side from the woman’s attack until the needles stabbed into multiple areas on his back. “Wh-What?” Thomas gasped for a life of air as he slowly took his fall. 

 

Minho was finally close to the entrance of the door and was rushing, pushing the people in his way to the side, to get the hell out of the torture. It was so close… 

 

A griever with an illusionist ability was able to trick Thomas into thinking the hair-griever’s attack was directed for the side when it was actually aimed for the backside. It was Thomas’ flaw to not know where she really stood, but the spur of the battle was driving his head into a lake of a disarray.

 

“Thomas! Thomas! Can you hear me?” Glados held Thomas in her arms as she opened multiple portals to take-in different attacks. 

 

“I, I can. It’s… slightly unsettling how far I’ve come,” Thomas’ vision was blurring, focusing and defocusing of the teary-eyed woman in front of him. “How I was so close to touching his face again. That’s all I wish for right now.”

 

Noticing the splinters dug into Thomas’ back, Glados did her best to remove each and every individual spike. It was to her surprise that she noticed that there needles were laced in a scent with a specific scent of a sedation and poison mixed together. The potency was high enough to stun and kill an elephant, and it was costing Thomas’ to falter in his performance. Judging by the amount of punctures made by the needles, Thomas’ body was absorbing a lethal amount of poison, which could stop the function of his heart if it was not treated soon.

 

“Thomas!” A snarl so loud that it roared and shook the ground. Glados looked up to see an Asian-looking person from the distance. She knew exactly who the person was that called out to the Earth King. Someone that was going to be the wrench in the wheels of fate.

 

No one moved. Moreover that they could  _ not _ move; an insane pressure of air was holding the hostile grievers in their place. The Three Sisters were able to freely move because Minho was allowing them to. Glados continued to hold Thomas protectively against her breast until Minho faded from the vision of her eyes and reappeared in front of him in a second. She let her guard down and gave up Thomas to the long-awaited wind-runner. “He’s been badly poisoned. I don’t think he has much time before he… you know.”

 

“I understand,” Minho was going to cry, for there was someone that he was yearning for the longest time. The training was excruciating, and it was becoming to be a mundane routine. His perseverance only lasted because the fluttering butterfly of hope was being locked in pandora’s box. “I won’t let him die.”

 

The Three Sisters rushed over to Minho’s side and understood the situation the moment Minho glanced at them with the darkest, exasperated eyes a person could have. They took Thomas from him and began working on healing the unconscious king. Glados would gladly wait for them to finish up if it were not for the fact that the Earth Kingdom still needed to be saved from an invasion. “I hate to break it to all of you, but we have other matters to attend.”

 

A portal opened to the shelter that Thomas provided for his citizens. Glados was the first to jump through before Minho took his turn. Upon entering the other realm, he felt the air instantly change as well as the temperature. A humid sensation took over as the shade provided the giant rock formation kept it mildly dark. Minho noticed the large amount of people being bundled into corners as they feared of what was on the outside of the walls.

 

The Three Sisters used their powers to carry Thomas in a giant water bubble over the portal. It glowed in a white and blue color as it was saving Thomas’ life. Minho was not sure what the situation was at Earth Kingdom, but he comprehended the task that was lurking in his head. “It’s WCKED, huh?” Minho asked Glados cautiously. Without a word, Glados hummed and nodded her head. “I’m going to do something about it then.” 

 

She felt a sense of sympathy for the citizens that were peacefully living before the tragedy struck the kingdom. Changing her sights to Minho, Glados sighed as she opened another portal to the outside of the walls of the shelter. “Your fate is in  _ your _ hands. You choose where to fight and how this war will play out. I trust you to make the right choice.”

  
“I got it,” Minho responded bravely as he entered through the mirror. He first noted the noise of explosions and buildings crumbling apart. It was a kingdom that was being destroyed from the inside out. “I’m coming for you, Kevin.” 


	9. Even Underneath All of Madness and Darkness, There Will Always Be Hope for Humanity

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Thank you all for reading this story once again and for the final time! I really worked on this story for so long, and I finally can put this story to peace and rest my tired mind. I tried to give this story as much development and whatnot. It was a hell of a thing to write, and I just uggggggh so much when I had to rewrite things to make it better-sounding. I just did this for fun, but it became something made with more effort into it. Anyways, enjoy the read and thank you all for getting this far into my work of adventure hell!

Chancellor Kevin contemplated on where Minho and the water grievers escaped to. He could sense their presence close to the kingdom. His zombie slaves were apprehended and were conclusively useless. When the war’s over, Kevin would like to dispose of most of the grievers for not being capable of capturing and eliminating a few targets. 

 

March was floating in midair as if he was lying down on a bed. “It’s no fun knowing I’ve grown immune to your mind-control, Kevin.”

 

“Your acting was splendid, though,” Kevin retorted, choosing to not grace the wind-griever a glance. “I figured that no matter how much I implement my shocks on you that you would not respond to my demands.” 

 

“I’m quite a fearsome runner myself, y’know?” March cockily mentioned, doing half-assed somersaults in the air. “I may act like an airhead, but I’m not really one.”

 

“Yes, yes,” Kevin responded, cracking his knuckles as something interesting was going to be ahead of the pathway they were taking. “You’ve always made it seem like you were under my control, but you successfully fought all my mind-manipulation techniques after the third time I used them all on you. I’m surprised you haven’t tried to attack me yet.”

 

“I rather not. My loyalty was always towards you. I will stay and fight by your side until the end,” March smirked, putting up a wind wall to block a sneak attack that was coming from the corner. It was a burst of air… March knew who was going to be coming to their visions in the next few seconds. “Well,” March was halting along with Kevin to face their not-so-spontaneous opponent, “you look like you’re doing well,  _ Minho _ .”

 

****

 

Dolores struggled to find her balance while she took heavy and jagged breaths. At least 50 feet of the radius was obliterated by the last attack by Tempest. Surprisingly, Dolores had a strong enough defense to block the devastating attack that Tempest unleashed. As scraps of burnt paper rolled and chipped off of Dolores’ back, a  twisted  bone in her ankle caused Dolores to falter and fall to the hollowed out land.

 

“Getting… weak, huh, Dor?” Tempest softly spoke as if she was trying to whisper rather than articulate her words. 

 

“No, not yet,” Dolores retorted, attempting to pull herself back on her feet. The wind flew between them in a dusty blow, the paper-runner grasped both her elbows and proceeded to rip them apart from each other. “I’m not going to let you fall into darkness again!”

 

A swarm of paper cranes was transcending from the arms that Dolores tore apart. Tempest expected there to be blood, but it was a nice surprise to see something so harmless as  _ paper _ . The lightning-griever took her energy within herself until it was boiling inside. When she reached the full capacity, she unleashed a sporadic burst of electricity that burned down each delicate sheet into ash.

 

As the swarm continued to grow in mass, Tempest had a tiny stroke of struggle trying to eliminate all the obnoxious sheets of paper to get to Dolores. When the flock of paper cranes dissipated, Tempest saw her teacher nowhere to be found. “Where ya hidin’, Dolores?” Tempest quickly scanned the area to seek out the runner. “Runners shouldn’t literally be running.”

 

“Funny, I could say the same thing about you,” Dolores stated humorously, flying above where the sun’s light was gleaming beautifully behind the paper-runner. A paper bridge was being constructed by Dolores’ will as it was falling gracefully to the earth.

 

The action had no harm to it nor did it have any intent for further violence. Tempest was ready to burn it all down again before the bridge reached the tiptoes of the griever. She analyzed the scenario and possible outcomes to her thought-out actions. Deciding to take a chance, her right foot stepped into the bridge before the left foot repeated the action. Letting her guard down for a mere second, Tempest’s energy flowed into the white thin sheets and was turned into its natural color. However, two separate colors were giving the bridge a nasty and grotesque saturation. 

 

Tempest was ready to blow the entire bridge apart. “What’s with this coloring!?”

 

“It’s your aura. One is purely yours while the other is not,” Dolores explained, feeling her back warming to the sunshine. “I don’t think you are completely under control of yourself.”

 

Two different shades of purple were apparent. Tempest had hers in a lighter shade as opposed to the darker, galaxy-colored one that was splotching the entire bridge of paper. If one color was hers, then who was the other? The griever gave herself a strong shock to stimulate her entire body, but it was still a painful experience to go through. As she gritted her teeth, she was slowly realizing whose aura was being mixed with hers. 

 

_ Chancellor Kevin. Chancellor Kevin. Chancellor Kevin. The Whisperer of the Damned! He’s the one. He’s the one! He’s. The. One! _

 

As if a door opened in her mind, she calmly and safely walked out of it. “Dolores, I’m scared to be alone,” Tempest felt her words exit through her rough throat. “I’m scared to be stuck with… the Whisperer of the Damned.” 

 

Dolores approached the lost griever as gently as possible. When she was in close enough range, she embraced Tempest as if she found the most precious treasure of the world. “I kept your letters as reminders to rescue you. You are not alone in this fight.”

 

As the ugly purple disappeared from the bridge, Tempest was beginning to gain her conscience again. She hugged back the teacher that she missed so much. “I’m sorry for hurting you! I’m so sorry for all the destruction I caused to this world!” Tempest was releasing all her burdens into Dolores, knowing it was okay to be vulnerable in front of somebody that she could trust. 

 

****

 

Maria was meeting up with Bryan after their exhausting battle with the original grievers. Archie and Omar were levitating in the air by Bryan as Maria was bragging how she easily won her battle. “I had the easiest one out of all the grievers because he was a kid!”

 

“Yeah, yeah,” Bryan murmured, knowing it was a real struggle to close the distance between him and Archie. The powers of Archie made Bryan wonder what kind of possibilities Archie was opening for himself as a trained hunter. Bryan was surely impressed on how diverse the arrows could be, and the different strengths each possessed. 

 

“I’ll admit that the snotty kid here was able to turn a lot of my refined and stunning clothing into a crispy fabric, but there was a limit to how much he could explode before being captured in my cloth.”

 

“I think you need to reevaluate your life choices, Maria,” Bryan agonized the comments that were being directed towards him. A kid was a kid. A runner could only develop in their powers so far as their body can take.

 

In the distance ahead of them, they could see flashes of pink light being lit in the sky. It was flickering like a switch, but it was attracting their attention like moths to a lamp. The closer they traveled, then the more they were engrossed by its light until an intense gravity field forced them back a small inch. From the observation, they were able to use their intuition to predict what the pink light was about. 

 

****

 

Mona stopped for a moment to analyze the next attack before she rolled to the left to evade an incoming swipe from the sickle. If she left herself unfocused for a split second, it was going to be the doom of herself. She was not going to let a griever of misfortunate stultify her on the sanctuary that Thomas worked hard to build. 

 

Her hands were dripping blood from when Perilloux surprised Mona with her sickle. Her heart was pumping fast because of her fear of death but also her fear of what would become of the people if WCKED had its way with them. Mona kept her eye on guard for anything suspiciously slicing the air, listening for the slightest shift in sound.

 

“Hi~!” Perilloux chirped audibly and happily, using the brief moment of her voice to cover the subtle sound of her sickle swinging in the air to strike down on Mona. 

 

“Not going to work,” Mona had the sickle contained in a separate gravity-space in mid-swing. 

 

“Sheesh, here I thought I would finally have some fun,” Perilloux pouted before realizing that there was no way her powers could affect the gravity that was suspending her weapon. It was going to be troublesome if she was to fight only with her fan, but Perilloux figured of something to do against her opponent.

 

Without any warning, an electric shock was delivered to her spine and caused her to twitch maniacally. Her mouth foamed as her eyes wanted to roll so far back into her head that it would look like she was overdosing. Perilloux let out a soft, defeated groan before collapsing to the ground after the shock was finished. 

 

Mona had no idea what was happening, but she accepted the finale of their battle regardless. Rushing to Perilloux’s side, Mona had to examine the woman to see if she was still living and breathing. “Give me a small pulse, come on,” Mona was holding two fingers to the side of Perilloux’s neck. A relief came crashing down on Mona when Perilloux’s vitals was apparent to the gravity-runner’s fingertips. 

 

“Mona, oh, Mona!” Maria was calling out in the distance to the ex-griever. “Did you defeat your little opponent, too?”

 

Mona looked to inspect the two bodies that were floating in the air as Bryan sent a telepathic message to not question it too much. Mona went along with it. Besides, she had another question to why Perilloux was being released from whatever was controlling her brain. It was a dangerous thing to trust a black cat as it passed by you.

 

A wind was violently blowing from the center of the Earth Kingdom. The battle that was going to be put into the books for the world to know where the change for humanity was going to come forth. The fear of runners being destroyed was the wager that Thomas put into creating this kingdom. The plague came in full-power, so the people needed to ready themselves for war. 

 

Mona allowed Bryan to use his telekinesis to put Perilloux into the air with the rest of the grievers. A bundle was always better to buy than a single item. Mona spoke in a tired voice, “It has to be March doing that. No other wind-manipulator could cause this.”

 

Bryan and Maria gave each other a wary expression before marching forward to the source of the madness. It was going to finally be all over… “I don’t usually say this, but I think I enjoyed my time with y’all,” Maria nonchalantly gestured her arms behind her neck. 

 

The opacus clouds were beginning to set, and the darkness would only grow from this point on. Bryan and Mona chuckled at their teammate, regarding the journey was rather harsh but pleasant at times. Their energy was slowly depleting, but their will continued to increase as they desired to end the battle for good. 

 

****

 

Thomas woke up suddenly and gasped for needed air, noticing the oxygen bubbling to the top of the confining sphere that he was placed in. The Three Sisters released their powers over Thomas and gave him space to breathe and feel the earth. Thomas took huge inhales before observing his surroundings, noting that he was no longer at WCKED HQ.

 

Before he could ask questions, the Three Sisters took the opportunity to explain the situation. Sapphire spoke first, “I’m Sapphire, a friend of Minho. These are my sisters and also Minho’s friends.”

 

“I’m Shelly,” the next sister took the shift of the conversation. “We were healing you from the poison that was affecting your body. As you can see, you’re alive.”

 

Thomas nodded to their kindness and appreciated that his end was prevented. He dropped his head backward and looked into the sky as it passed by. He was not out for too long, obviously. The war was still going on, and he could feel the earth quivering on the outside of the shelter he compiled together for the people. 

 

The last sister was a little hesitant to speak, but she held back her heart and told what was clogging her throat. “Minho’s fighting for you, for these people and kingdom. He’s out there protecting what’s precious to him.”

 

The name she used processed through Thomas’ end and realized what she actually had said. “W-What!?”

 

No one told him anything afterward. Thomas’ moderate heartbeat became a rampant horse and stampeded through the murk of anxiousness. He had to go to where his lover was. The sleeping king had finally awakened to aid his dying kingdom and people. Thomas rushed back to his feet and began heading to the direction of where the disturbance of the walls was. 

 

Glados and the Three Sisters were following his lead, not like Thomas cared if they did. He knew that they were all strong individuals that were capable of handling the ugly truth that was lurking behind the walls. Spreading his arms apart, the walls separated into an opening down the middle for Thomas to exit through. 

 

The first thing he saw as the light permeated his vision was Chancellor directly across from him. “My, my! Glad to see our fated guest has arrived to see the finale of our play,” Chancellor roared across the area. 

 

“I’m stopping this,” Thomas retorted, glaring at Kevin as if Death was going to help Thomas put this man to rest, “now.”

 

The opened walls closed vicariously as if it were angry. Minho and March were in the sky before noticing the new appearance of people at the ground. They both ceased their conflict to notice that the Earth King had come out to the show. March frowned at the sight, knowing it was going to make the fight much more difficult on his part. However, Minho’s heart was ecstatic to see the familiar, lovable, shuck-of-a-person that he missed to the brink of insanity. 

 

March and Minho blinked out of each other’s sights to accompany their leader’s sides. Minho reanimated in front of Thomas and was overly eager to smoother Thomas in rapid pecks of kisses. “You asshole! I missed you!”

 

The anger that was apparent on Thomas’ face was instantly replaced with a softer emotion. He laughed at each tickling touch, “Hey! I was trying to be serious here! Stop, you bastard. Gosh, give me a little more respect!”

 

The two male’s laughter was quieted by the loud cough of another male. Kevin was impatiently waiting for them to stop being sickeningly sweet to resume the battle. “Now that we got all the actors on stage, may our epilogue continue on! No use trying to hold back now that our guest of honor finally showed up.” A shadowy essence oozed from Kevin’s arms and onto the ground. The color was like a black hole that was engulfing all the stars into its abyss. It was spelling trouble for those that opposed Kevin.

 

Retaliating right away, Thomas summoned up a pillar for each of his allies to keep a distance between the unknown substance and them. Having no idea of what it was capable of, it was only safe to take precaution as he figured the most powerful man at WCKED was always full of tricks. “Anybody actually knows this guy’s range of abilities?” Thomas was staring at Minho and Glados, assuming they would have the most knowledge on the Chancellor.

 

Glados shook her head because the Chancellor was somebody that barely participated in missions. His powers remained ambiguous to the grievers. She wanted to try something, though. “I’ll test it out.” Summoning a portal that was an entrance to the Pacific Ocean, thunderous crashes of water came pouring down onto the black ooze. 

 

The Three Sisters saw it as an opportunity to utilize, so they took a considerable amount to use for themselves in battle. They watched as the water that was poured onto the ooze began to turn the same color as the suspicious blackness. March and Kevin remained calm under its presence, but it was clear that Kevin would not let it harm himself or his teammates. 

 

“Wicked Orb,” Kevin whispered, causing the slime to vibrate and shift to his command. It pulled back from its adherence to everything until the slime came together into a floating sphere. Its color transitioned from a void black to a galaxy purple. “March, let’s take this group down.”

 

“With pleasure, Chancellor,” March bowed before dissipating into the wind.

 

Minho sensed danger and began to look for March’s presence. Thomas motioned his hands like he was directing his army to advance forward. Glados stayed behind the Three Sisters as they began forming a water dragon to strike down upon Kevin. 

 

Minho jumped off the pillar to have his body become one with the wind. In that realm, he could easily locate March’s position and apprehend him. Surprisingly, the first one to be apprehended was Minho himself as March took them out of the transference and into reality again. “Ah, uh, gah!” Minho’s only words were scrambled as March was choking him out.

 

“I honestly don’t think you’re all that special,” March criticized, throwing Minho high into the sky. “Children that dream too big should know that beyond the sky is the cold black space that kills you!”

 

“Minho!” Thomas shouted, forcing the ground around Kevin to collapse to buy time for Thomas to do something to help his boyfriend. Before Thomas could do anything drastic, Kevin commanded his orb to send forth a barrage of slime to destroy the pillar that Thomas was standing on. “Cr-Crap!” Thomas gasped, falling through the air before using his powers to summon another pillar for himself.

 

Ophelia jumped down and began running after Kevin, “Aqua Ring! Supportive Bond!”

 

Shelly and Sapphire stood guard of Glados, knowing that the Mirror of the World was their reliable source of their element. If Glados was defeated, it would ultimately make the Three Sisters useless. Shelly formed a hammer for Ophelia to use while Sapphire shapeshifted the water into a sword for her middle sister to use.

 

As Kevin recollected his balance, he noticed the fast approaching griever that was going to be a nuisance. Sadly, he knew if anyone else that was not of his interest were to get in his way, he was going to  _ kill _ them. “To think, my very own grievers would rise against me,” Kevin started, walking towards Ophelia with open arms while the black orb accompanied behind him. “Pitiful.”

 

“Command: Execution Mode,” Kevin muttered, smiling to his soon to be minced meat of an opponent. The orb grew out multiple long black spikes that collided in a swift second with Ophelia’s weapons. Kevin did not give Ophelia even a mere moment to react to the sudden change in his weapon, so orb continued retracted the spikes and launched them again at a terrifying speed.

 

“Sh-fuck!” Ophelia was at a loss for words as she deflected each pointed tip to the best of her abilities. Inevitably, she was being pushed back until Thomas had to step in and turned the ground into a closing flap that crushed the spikes together like a bookmark in between the pages of a book before the book got shut. “Thanks.”

 

The walls that imprisoned the spikes began to shake subtly before it erupted into dust and debris. The arms of the orb seemed to be able to durable despite its slimy appearance. Ophelia prepared for another onslaught of jabs from the orb, acknowledging how much of threat it actually imposed on everyone. 

 

Kevin chuckled at their efforts, understanding that a simple design of a weapon was not a typical standard of his, but he enjoyed the multifunctional purposes it served for him. Sometimes it was better to take things in simplicity, anyway. “What’s the matter, Earth King? Can’t fight your own battles?”

 

Enduring the taunt, Thomas replied, “I prefer safety in numbers nowadays.”

 

Kevin scoffed at the remark. “I detest that side of you. You’ll lose my respect that way.”

 

The orb fired spikes at Thomas, forcing him to go on the defensive. Ophelia tried to use the time that it was distracted to engage but was only stalled by more sharp-pointed spikes that were too close to a few vital points on her body. The radius of the orb that it was aware of fending off was incredible to Thomas and the rest. It almost showed no opening in its defense as well as putting enemies into a tight corner. 

 

“Changing plans,” Ophelia hopped into the air and threw her weapons at the orb, expecting it to the slice and deflect the thrown objects. As foretold, the orb did do what Ophelia was predicting, and she used the moment it attacked her weapons to explode into a frozen tomb to hold the spikes stationary. She commanded ice shards to launch towards Kevin, knowing it was enough to surprise the high-order man.

 

“Don’t think that something like this,” Kevin irritatedly muttered, swinging his arms to shatter the ice into pieces, “could work on me!”

 

“I didn’t, so I had another plan,” Ophelia sarcastically mentioned, pointing her middle finger to the air as if she was trying to tell Kevin something.

 

Kevin looked up subconsciously and noticed a falling meteor coming through a portal that Glados summoned. “Interesting,” Kevin’s last words were said before being pummeled into the earth by the large scale attack. 

 

****

 

March shot a burst of air at Minho, but it was reciprocated with the same attack. “I was the first to become a wind-griever. I was the first to overcome the Chancellor’s powers. I am  _ not _ an opponent you should take lightly, runner.”

 

“Eh, I didn’t think I was all that great to start with,” Minho soared around before sending down wind saws to attack March. “But here’s the thing, March. I’m not going to let you defeat me that easily.”

 

“Good,” March responded, proceeding to fly away from the scene. “I’ll give you a true taste of my beauty. Dance: Blooming Petals!”

 

Minho yelled and summoned a tornado to counteract the attack that March sent forth. Minho’s ears were being blasted by the sounds of the air pressure as he was flying around to find March. If Minho was unable to protect his boyfriend, then it was better if Minho was dead then. “Memories Caught in the Wind.”

 

“Oh yikes,” the flowery blond uttered carelessly as he rested upon a cloud. “I was not looking forward to that attack.”

 

“Good,” Minho animated a semi-transparent bow and began to pull the string back to prepare a shot at March. “I have other business to attend to, so get out of my way!”

 

“Not yet,” March sighed, letting a soft memory in his head play of him and his teammates as they were assigned to their first mission. “I’m not going to let this be the end. Dance: Rippling Gale.”

 

A tornado of petals roared upwards as Minho released his arrow that easily penetrated through the eye of the storm and continued downwards to the ground. March laughed at the action, confusing Minho as to what was exactly funny. Minho inspected what was actually behind the blond was the field where everyone was fighting Kevin. Minho’s attack was not stopping as it was aimed directly at the center of the crossfire. 

 

“You tricked me,” Minho uttered.

 

“I needed to create a little disarray to offset the battle down there. It doesn’t seem like Kevin is having the time of his life as we speak,” March’s body transitioned into a body of pinkish petals and fled the scene. 

 

Minho cursed aloud before he skydived to the battlefield to check on the process of the war. It was too late for the arrow had already landed before he could. As he was plummeting back to the ground, his body entered a state of acceleration where he began to heat up tremendously. It took a moment before Minho crashed to the top layer of the ground and acknowledged his presence to everyone. 

 

The first thing he observed was that there was a random meteor on the side where Kevin was at. Thomas, Glados, and the Three Sisters were back against the walls of the shelter as they remained unconscious from the impact. It was clear to Minho that his arrow pushed everyone back from each other. Thomas was the first to gain his consciousness and looked dearly at Minho as if it were the last thing he saw before the world ended. 

 

Thomas carefully picked himself up; one foot at a time on the battleground. His clothes lightly dusted in brown, but he found himself worrying about his boyfriend’s safety rather than his own. “You okay?” Thomas embraced Minho without hesitation.

 

“Y-Yeah,” Minho only choked a little before speaking. His arms casually wrapping around Thomas’ waist, recognizing the action to be something special between them. It was that sense of security and familiarity that made Minho want to protect Thomas. It felt good to be back in the arms of his loved one.

 

In the background away from Minho’s acknowledgment, Thomas saw the meteor shake slowly before furiously cracking itself open without a sound. It was like watching a demon hatch from an egg, peeling away the layers of iron and other elements. The Chancellor arose from the center of the torn apart meteor and was radiating off a noxious miasma into the area. It sent shivers down Thomas’ spine. 

 

“Souls of the Damned Whispers Oblivion,” Kevin lightly articulated, sensing his level of seriousness towards Thomas and his allies was a giant mistake. The miasma ghosted through the air and shown no light to be able to penetrate its density. It was creeping for Minho, and Thomas was not going to give Kevin the right to hurt someone that was always locked safely in his heart.

 

As the wheels of fate turned, Thomas took a risk and spun himself and Minho in a half-circle. Confusing Minho, Thomas held back his word and shoved his boyfriend out of the way. Knowing his lover, Thomas created shackles around Minho’s arms and legs to keep him from interfering the final fight that Thomas was having with Kevin.

 

It was supposed to be a one-on-one, anyway… 

 

Minho was stationary on the floor as his fingertips were trying to reach out for Thomas. The shackles prevented him from moving too close to grasp his king’s hands. Minho’s heart froze in its place as if it was dropped into a black hole of its own. “Don’t go,” Minho whispered as his only set of words to hold Thomas in place.

 

Unsatisfied with the retort, Thomas faced Minho with a soft expression that was the same as the time they were alone in their old home together at Glade City, “I’ll protect  _ you  _ this time.” Thomas smiled cheerfully, exposing his white teeth one last time before walking backward into the hands of hell.

 

As the lingering miasma was inches away from making contact with Thomas, the earth erupted in a wall of thorny roots. The organic matter absorbed the miasma and instantly died to its toxicity. The roots’ forest green color was saturated in black and wilted. 

 

Kevin had a keen eye on the situation and was delighted to the discovery. “Oy, your earth powers expanded to the point you control more than just dirt and soil?” 

 

Thomas was no longer scared of the fight. His tiger eyes were set on the defeat of the Whisperer of the Damned. “Yeah, I can command nature itself, and I will give life back its peace.”

 

“That’s cute,” Kevin burst into laughter. It was slightly prolonged before it quieted down. “Ah, I despise your being.” 

 

“Same,” Thomas summoned up two earth dolls from the toughest sediment layer in the ground. 

 

“Let me first ask you something,” Kevin stepped out of the meteor and began to approach Thomas. The earth dolls rushed at an insane speed to apprehend Kevin, but it was futile as Kevin easily shattered each doll with his fists. “Who said you were the one fighting for justice? How do you know that you are not this world’s enemy and its ally instead?”

 

Thomas’ orange aura was blaring in its shine before he responded, “I know it in my heart that I will let humanity go on free to give itself liberation. Your organization is nothing but a lab of inhumane tests and creations. You want to dictate this world!” 

 

“Perhaps, but aren’t you going to do the same?” Kevin’s galaxy-purple aura was rising to match the display that Thomas was showing. “I don’t think you’re someone that wants to negotiate at this point. A tiger can’t fight a hostile parasite.”

 

A cloud of lavender liquid lashed out to attack Thomas, but a giant root came into contact to intervene. It was acidic this time and melted through the walls of the root. Thomas deconstructed a small radius of rock on the ground into sand. It crept up his sleeves and provided a shell to keep anything from making direct contact with his flesh. Thomas had to prepare himself for the emergency that the miasma succeeds to subjugate him. 

 

Looking directly at the ground beneath Kevin, Thomas forced upon an attack from underground. It was a bundle of roots that took the shape of a drill on the upper section of it, and it cut open the surface and erected tall in hopes of slicing Kevin in half. It was useless as Kevin was able to lay waste to the organic material. 

 

Figuring the roots were no longer an option, Thomas switched his attacks to the basics. He created an iron maiden and fortified the spikes with iron underneath the ground behind Kevin. He awaited Kevin to take a step forward for Thomas to spring his trap. 

 

Kevin remained where he was as a shadowy essence of a hand appeared behind him like a tail. It grew in size definitely and stretched forward to crush Thomas. The king shook his worries about death and accepted the will to fight until the end. He countered it with a turtle shell of heavy boulders. He made spikes appear in front of Kevin, which caused the Chancellor to step backward. “Gotcha,” Thomas allowed his iron maiden to appear and encase the villain. 

 

As the doors forcibly shut, it echoed throughout the field like a tomato being smashed against a window. Thomas retracted from his defense and looked upon the result, noting the ominous hand disappearing from its source. Two roots penetrated through the surface and began to circle the coffin until it was completely wrapped. It did a few squeezes until a definite crack was audible to the world. 

 

Thomas walked forward, knowing it was  _ not  _ over. Spontaneously, March reanimated himself behind Thomas, and the Earth King was ready to react the moment he touched the floor, but March had his attack already settled into Thomas’ stomach. A fist dived deep into Thomas’ stomach, twisting itself around the fabric of his clothes. 

 

The attack was like a vacuum punch and it released an intense pressure of air that collided with the sand shell and Thomas’ gut. A gale escaped from the backside where the punch landed, and Thomas fell to the floor in an instant. Thomas figured that it was hard to detect an enemy that barely touched the ground. 

 

March spun his hand around as Thomas felt something crawling within his lungs. As March began to do pulling gestures, Thomas saw his oxygen flowing out of his mouth and was suffocating to death. “This is truly a simple and dirty trick,” March mentioned, continuing to siphon the life out of Thomas’ lungs.

 

Minho fought against the shackles as he watched his boyfriend struggle against the griever. The gasping, the deafening sounds of imminent death closing in, it was all scarring Minho until his self-esteem became a tiny ant that could be squished at any breathing moment. 

 

The red blood that was seeping through the spaces of the rings of constriction became blackish miasma and slithered over to Thomas’ body. Thomas understood well that it was never a fair fight in terms of war. One side always had to play dirty. The miasma mixed with the oxygen that March was extracting, and then March returned the entire thing back into Thomas’ body. 

 

The shackles suddenly crumbled, and Minho used his first second of freedom to rush at a tremendous speed to March’s side. Before Minho could do anything to exact his rage, a torrent of dark matter blasted away the Asian back against the shelter’s walls. “F-Fuck, looks like the beast is out of the cage,” Minho dizzily saw the splitting image of Kevin reemerging from the roots. 

 

The Three Sisters and Glados soon gained their consciousness and quickly saw the turn of events in their absence. Kevin broke the ice by engaging into a light conversation, “I mean, I do appreciate a good compliment here and there. Looks like the end is near, runner. I captured the most powerful runner in the  _ world _ , and I don’t think Thomas will be quite happy to see you anymore, Minho.”

 

March took his place by the Chancellor’s side and obediently waited for orders. Dust particles settled into March’s locks of blond hair, but it did nothing to fade the beauty that he had. It was an exhausting day, but it was worth the time and effort to aid the Chancellor to create a new future for the world. It would finally be under WCKED’s full-control. 

 

Thomas laid still on the floor. His life put in a stationary stasis. Upon Kevin’s command, he forced Thomas to awaken to his new persona. First, his body spasmed to an excruciating pain that got Thomas to bluntly open his eyes and scream a blood-curling clamor. Minho’s heart broke the minute he listened to the sound.

 

“Minho,” Ophelia, along with her sisters and Glados, came to pull him up back on his feet to prepare for the new fight that was going to happen. “We need you more than ever now. You need to get a hold of yourself.”

 

“I can’t,” Minho was frightened of what was going to happen. He was not prepared for something like that. It was never supposed to come out like that.

 

Thomas slowly put both his feet on the ground and stood coldly in front of everyone. A black gasmask popped out of the earth, and Thomas seriously snatched the item in midair and placed it on his face. The miasma that came out of the nostril of the mask gently shrouded the backside of Thomas’ body before it animated into a coat with colored splotches of concord, amethyst, and charcoal. 

 

“This,” Kevin opened his arms as if he was about to grace the world with the good news, “this  _ is _ the Earth King I know! Cruel, evil, and a cold-blooded murderer. That is who Thomas is.”

 

Minho glanced at the appearance and realized how similar it was to when Thomas was unaware of being a runner. It was how he used to be. 

 

“Hey, jackass that thinks he can rule the world!” A familiar feminine voice echoed throughout the field. It came directly behind Kevin, so everyone turned to pay attention to the origin of the outburst.

 

Glados seemed pleasantly surprised to see it was Maria and the other runners. Another surprise that took Glados by the feet was the fact that the original grievers were standing next to the Wonders.

 

Kevin scowled as he had a disagreeing feeling in his stomach about the uncalled for surprise. “I see that the entire cast of actors has decided to come to the stage. It’s too bad that you were all too late for the curtain call.”

 

“Oh shuddap,” Omar replied, sticking his tongue out at the older man. “You’re a horrible old man.”

 

Kevin was slightly aggravated by the comment, but he kept his composure because it would do him no good to fall into their hands. “March, execute your team. I’ll take care of Thomas’ little crew. Let the Earth King have fun toying with his boyfriend before killing him.”

 

“I don’t think you’ll be separating any of us anytime soon,” Ophelia began to walk to the enemy with confidence. Following her courageous march, her sisters and Glados were also copying her movement. 

 

“Hm, perhaps you got me there,” Kevin sighed, rubbing the temple of his forehead as if there was a margarine there. “Then again, Thomas?”

 

On command, Earth King silently manipulated the ground and created a giant pitfall of darkness for everyone to fall into. As a few of them tried to not fall into the trap, Thomas was able to drag everyone into their fated battles. 

 

****

 

The original grievers were almost unfazed by the sudden darkness as they fell through an intricate system of tunnels. Like exiting a slide, they flew off and landed on themselves; some landed on their face. “Ow!” Tempest and Omar synced their voices. 

 

The rest of the group were unfazed by the sudden approach by their old teammate. The Blooming Spring Festival was somebody that was nearly as powerful as Charon or Nyx. He was nonchalant about anything that WCKED ordered and always followed through without consideration of the consequences. A sneaky card that was waiting to be played under the Chancellor’s hands. “My, my, don’t you all look indifferent today?” March smiled to his supposed allies.

 

No one seemed surprised by the fact that their opposing side was March alone. Glados felt herself wanting to reconcile with him in an effort to bring the obvious tear in their group together again. However, she knew it was impossible knowing how no one actually knew who March was. The smile only masked the true intention of a demon that was going to swallow its victims alive. For one, Glados remembered how March had shown no other emotion during their old missions besides joys and laughter. Those sinister intentions were genuine and brought Glados to her to the conclusion of her thought. “It doesn’t look like we are all here to have tea and converse,” Glados mentioned, opening a portal and pulled out weapons directly from the weaponry vault in WCKED.

 

“Uh oh,” March casually tried to play his voice as if he was in any real danger. An arrogance was being conveyed to the other group that also aggravated them. “Here I thought I was going to talk it out reasonably with all of you and get you to fight for WCKED again.”

 

“I don’t want to return to WCKED anymore,” Tempest grabbed the two whips strapped to her utility belt and cracked them to indicate a seriousness. “Dolores is my teacher, my friend, my  _ family _ . I’m not going to let my old pettiness and contempt rule my life forever. I am going to change for the better.”

 

“The big old man scares me, anyways,” Omar added, waving politely at March before turning his eyes red, “but if you want me to return to that evil guy’s side, March, I’ll destroy you.”

 

“Scary,” March responded, expressing a comedic and dramatized version of fear on his face. “Well, how about everyone else?”

 

A slight silence beside the dust running away in the wind. No one moved from the spot they were standing in. The sky was darkening, but the sunset colored it orange and red. The unresponsive reactions from March’s team was a clear indication of their new allegiance. “It’s not like we were enjoying having our freedom taken away on a whim whenever the Chancellor needed us to do the dirty jobs,” Camille decided to speak for the group, cold-heartedly glaring at March. 

 

“In times we actually get control of our consciousness, I, for one, noticed how an eerie vibe came from you. My trust in you was always running on thin ice,” Archie confessed, sharpening the tip of an arrow in his hand. Satisfied of the acute edge, he then placed it gently inside of his compound bow and locked his sights onto March. “All hard feelings, lad.”

 

“I feel the same with all of you,” March also articulated his true thoughts. “I knew all of your answers before you guys said it. The moment I was paired with all you pathetic runners that I knew you guys would rebel against our great Chancellor the second you guys can grasp it.” The air was vortexing around March, disturbing the rather pleasant conversation he was having with his past teammates. “I must say, it was an honor to fight with you all until now. Now, I must kill each of you.”

 

“Fat chance, bitch,” Archie released his arrow and predicted its failure to hit March. At least until he could speak of a command to transform the object into something useful. At the last second, Archie yelled, “Iceborn Arrow!” 

 

“Please,” March flicked his finger and an absurd explosion of air reflected the frozen arrow back to Archie at a terrifying speed.

 

A portal opened to a random room to WCKED’s HQ because of Glados’ fast reaction. She, fortunately, saved the life of Lost Archer. It was going to take a lot more than half-assed attacks to take down the team that was trained to obliterate a city effortlessly. She was not G0003 because of her distinct power, but she was the most defensive and diverse fighter. “These are my allies, my friends. I won’t stand by and let you come for them like that,” Glados firmly stated her position as a runner. 

 

“Mirror of the World, Monster Hiding Underneath the Bed, Lost Archer, Lady Luck, Explosive Youth, and Passionate Lashes of Fury,” March almost annoyingly groaned at the names with a flick of his tongue. “I don’t suppose you guys are really going to rebel against Kevin like that?” The group opposite of March agreed on their stand against WCKED and the Chancellor especially. March was disappointed that his words were not going to reach his supposed friends. “I will turn all of your galimatias into rational atonement.”

 

Glados almost wondered when there was ever a moment that March was serious. The seasons changed and the world took itself to collide willfully with discord. A time lapse of Glados’ memory of March played softly as she remembered the time that he had short blond hair that grew as it existed longer. The same smile and mellow attitude that accompanied March, then Glados got locked up for a while before noticing if there was more to March rather than that. 

 

However, there was a change in the wind. Not for the reason that March could control it, but the fact that Glados picked up on the air that March was settling with. It was not his usual predisposed personality, but it was an opening to a facet that Glados did not explore yet. It was the set of death within the blackness of March’s eyes. It sent her shivers to know that he was her enemy, but she was not going to waver because her passion for a better future was strong. In a vain effort to forewarn her teammate, “Everyone watc—”

 

“Dance: Silent Ballerina,” March commanded, instantly nullifying all sounds within a 48-meter radius. To an extent, his wind powers evolved to touch the basis of sound. It was a complicated technique that March found useful in turning regular exterminate missions into assassination missions. Unfortunately, the degree of the power’s duration was still limited, so it was only going to last about ten minutes max. It was going to be enough for March to send his ex-comrades into a special pit in hell. 

 

First, he dissipated into petals and then reanimated in front of Glados and used a vacuum punch to paralyze her. As the others were still stunned at the sound in the area being nothing, March focused on putting them off at least one at a time. A whole element of their senses was cut off, so it was going to a disadvantage on both sides to not know what attacks may come next. March risked it all at this point, knowing his master would need him to be by his side in case of an unpredictable outcome. 

 

As he temporarily disabled Glados, March dedicated his attention to focusing down Tempest and Perilloux. The two women understood that they were his targets the second his eyes locked onto them. Predictably, March used his speed to close the distance between him and Perilloux but was not expecting an energy landmine to be directly underneath him as he stepped in front of Lady Luck. Being only momentarily disrupted, Tempest took advantage of the distraction and blinked in front of March and released a large amount of lightning at him. 

 

The outburst broke through the nulling field that March set up, and everyone could hear the thunderous sound that Tempest produced. Inevitably, it took their hearing for a few seconds again. March rolled far away from the group before trying to recover himself from the attack. “I guess it’s time for me to actually get serious with all of you.”

 

“Serves you right, dumbass,” Tempest slapped her hands repeatedly to get rid of the dust on them. Glados was able to regain her posture, and it was going to put March back at square one with his plans.

 

“It’s clear that you can barely take out over half of us as you are, why don’t you just join our cause, March?” It was Perilloux’s turn to persuade her old teammate, but it was holding no luck. The pure irony that she felt.

 

“I really didn’t want us to come to this because I still feel that you guys can change. I wanted us to all get along, but some dreams can stay that way before reality can wake us up,” March lectured, pulling his weight up with a smile that was insidious. “Secret Dance: Scarlet Wind.”

 

Everyone stood by and watched as an influx of petals and leaves swarmed in to carry March into the air. Every single piece of leaf went from an autumn brown to a bloody red. The petals copied the same coloration as it began to worry everyone about what was happening. While March closed his eyes and opened it a second later, everyone could tell his eyes were also the same sinister crimson red that was a giant stain to the environment.

 

“Did anyone remember that technique? Or even at least ever seen the lad do that?” Archie dumbfoundedly asked. The in-sync silence was the distinctive answer he needed for his question, and he considered them slightly in a predicament at that point. “We’re fucked.”

 

****

 

As Minho’s vision adjusted to the darkness, he could see the area was actually well-lit. He looked around to see where he was, but he noted the walls that enclosed him within it. The sky was beautifully painted above him, and he could hear a waterfall splashing loudly not too far from him. He looked over to see where it was and noticed in front of it was the Earth King. “Ta-Thomas?” Minho carefully stepped forward. 

 

The black masked runner tilted his head as if to show confusion. His arms glowed in orange, forcing Minho to stand guard to apprehend any upcoming projectiles or attacks. The earth shook almost gently, but it erupted into a catastrophe. Something was changing in the terrain, although Minho could not pinpoint where it was. It stopped vibrating and everything was calm again. 

 

Possessed Thomas pulled out from the ground a giant rock and transformed it into a magnificent butterfly. Minho knew that familiar from anywhere, for it was back in Thomas’ old days. The creature looked through its kaleidoscope eyes and homed-in on him. Ready to move, something clutched depressingly to his ankles. He looked to see shards upon shards of muck preventing Minho to take flight. “C’mon!” Minho intolerably destroyed the shackles with the wind to his command, and his blue aura began to glow, causing the waterfall to take a turn to lash out at Earth King.

 

Ah. It was there. The very moment that Minho had to contemplate to himself to question himself. There was never a real visible line that distinguished Earth King and Thomas, but the situation opened Minho’s eyes to see that there was a line. He never bothered to look at it carefully. As there was the moon, there was the sun that came up as well. 

 

Defensively, Thomas summoned an earth wall to protect his back from the torrent of water. Minho took the chance to leap into the air and get away from ground level as much as possible. A void so dark and cold that there was no need for light to penetrate it; Thomas had the murk so entwined into his soul that it was nearly impossible to cut the substance without inflicting damage to himself. Stranded in the middle of the desert without a drop of water to replenish his energy or food to suffice him, he hungrily attacked Minho in hope to feel life course through his veins again. “Twittering birds never fly,” Thomas breathed out an ominous air. 

 

An absurd quantity of hands erupted as it reached towards the sky as if it were trying to praise the Lord. Minho dodged each and every one of them, but it was becoming difficult over time as each evaded hand only made fewer escape routes for Minho to take. When the last spec of light was taken hostage by darkness, Minho knew he was trapped within the cage that Thomas was building. 

 

Neither closing or opening his eyes did anything to help make the darkness see the light. Minho almost craved to sleep within the oblivion and believe it was all a dream, but the flickering glimmer in the distance stole his attention. He can see his fingertips reaching for the soft light between the spaces of his knuckles. In a sudden moment, the flickering became everscent and ubiquitous. After analyzing his environment, he could see where.

 

A giant earth-like prison that strongly resembled a bird cage was fabricated by Thomas to keep Minho inside of. He saw the towering columns and noted how well-made they were created to the image. It was almost beautiful to the wind-runner to see that even if Thomas was possessed, the Earth King still was able to do something stunning and elegant. “I’m not going to let this be our end,” Minho articulated, caressing the rough, jagged bars against his own worn out hands. The bars shook to the way Minho’s heart was beating tremendously, and the orange aura secretly seeped from the earth around Minho and into his own energy. 

 

Earth King made it known that it was a threat that Minho was absorbing something that he should not be able to. Earth King had to stop Minho before it led to anything disastrous for the Chancellor’s plans. “Stop resisting, foolish runner,” Earth King tried to snuff out the weak, fragile wind until it stopped breathing, but the wind could only bite back with full-force.

 

Unprecedented, the small moisture that the soil contained was being sapped away. The oxygen from the earthy material was also siphoned and caused the material to crack to crust and dust. “It looks like it’s going to rain today,” Minho looked down upon Thomas from where he was, careless to the fact that the bird cage was falling apart like a sand castle. 

 

“I hate the rain,” Earth King confessed, glancing at the shift in the clouds as it grew dark before millions of droplets came pouring like a storm. 

  
  


****

 

The Six Wonders knew it was exactly like how Thomas would transport the group to their respective homes. It was nothing new to them, but they knew the opponent they were going to face was going to be a difficult one. As the Six Wonders popped out into a new area that was cleared out for an obvious showdown, Bryan, Maria, Mona, Charles, and Dolores were back on their feet across from the  Whisperer of the Damned.

With a slight delay, the Three Sisters appeared and all fell upon their arse. They complained about the harsh landing before noticing where they were and what was going to happen in a few short moments. “Yikes, we’re paired against the scariest one here,” Ophelia got up, understanding the situation quickly.

 

“I’m not here to politely talk to each and every one of you to join my cause, for I have already won. I won’t have to tolerate nuisances anymore. Thus, I dispose of you all into a place in the hell I’m going to create for the world,” Chancellor could not help but give a spiel of his intentions. 

 

“So we just the beat the crap out of this guy, right?” Maria sighed, stretching her arms to the new battle ahead of her. No one really complained about her idea but also did not agree totally. Despair could only come in so many shades for Maria.

 

“Essentially, that is the plan,” Kevin chuckled along with the idea, “that is  _ if _ the enemy was not me.” The air stilled with tension, forcing back the group from Kevin. Tenacious, adaptive, and fearsome, it was all the qualities that the Whisperer needed to survive in the world that constantly brought despair to the innocent. 

 

It was when the solar eclipse changed the world that Kevin would understand how cruel people were to runners. Immunes and runners were two separate cases, and the segregation was needed to protect the immunes. The concept of runners brought home the biggest emotional trauma and disputes for families, relationships, and work. A wedge unlike anything else was struck inside of humanity. It was the world’s despair; this world of runners and immunes. 

 

There had to be a middle ground that someone could build to bridge the two together. Kevin knew he could do it with the right motivation and determination. He could change the world from what it was into something great.

 

It would let the runners turn themselves into something that would get immunes to realize their mistakes and bring the proximity to one yolk again. It was going to be difficult when Kevin had powers of plague, madness, and torment. Although, Kevin saw his powers as his ticket to the top fast and his passage to success. He was not going to let an idea stay an idea, for he was going to let it enter metamorphosis and become a wonderful reality. As the saying went, ‘you reap what you sow.’ Kevin knew exactly what kind of fruit he wanted to bear. Rather it was going to be forbidden or not, he wanted it nonetheless. 

 

Whether he grieved for his losses, he was going to move forward and show the world something innovative and fruitful to both runners and immunes. Thus, the name for the middle ground that the Chancellor wanted to created was  _ grievers _ . A name that was fit to its distinction. 

 

How were these simple runners supposed to understand that great mindset that Kevin had? No probable way could be proposed. Kevin wanted to do it for them, but if they dared to resist the idea, then it would be their loss—in all ways possible. “I grow weary of this,” Kevin commented, staring down his annoyance to the Wonders. “I’ll show you the world’s despair at its finest.” 

  
  


****

 

March was elegant as he was deadly. He reflected attacks from Tempest, Perilloux, and Camille altogether. The secret technique that he was fortifying from the others was perfected, for it was meant to protect the Chancellor at any cost. “Scatter,” March softly cooed, pointing his long fingers to the opposing group. 

 

The Chancellor would be proud of March, and he could rightfully take his place by Chancellor’s side. March saw greatness within Kevin, and he knew that the man was going to be someone that could be followed into the dark. A trust built upon blood, violence, and confidence. Like the spilled blood that March committed that made him go bad, he would never retain his purity knowing that Chancellor would continuingly pour the sweet agony down his face. 

 

As the swarm of red petals obeyed to his will, it swayed back and forth, shifting the air beautifully, for it would soon come to cut anything that would cross its path. Tempest attempted to pull her effort into burning every single petal with her lightning-based attacks, but the petals only absorbed the shock and still charged at her with destructive force. Luckily, Perilloux fended off the swarm with her energy waves to save Tempest. 

 

“The Red String Cut By Scissors,” March pronounced, plunging his hand into the thousands of petals in front of him. He pulled forth a sword of a terrifying range of two meters. It was the petals itself that molded together to form his weapon of choice. Like a knight, he bowed and stabbed the sword into the earth. “I’m going to send all of you into madness.”

 

Tempest held Omar tightly as she spoke frantically, “He can absorb my attacks! This is not an ordinary form. His powers show a lot of resistance to the things we throw at him. I’m not sure how long we will last against him at this rate.”

 

“Agreed,” Archie put down his compound bow and analyzed for further steps of actions. “It won’t be long before he comes at us again.”

 

“Then play it by the ear then,” Glados confidently stated. “Here he comes again!”

 

March’s eyes did not only carry chaos within its saturation of red, but it held a certain type of despair that he knew was inevitable in all human kind. Softly chuckling, he sidestepped and instantly teleported next to Glados and swung his sword, clashing against the frame of Glados’ mirror before slicing it in half as if it were paper. 

 

No one was able to comprehend what they saw, but they knew how close to impossible it was to cut Glados’ mirror apart. It was beyond sturdy, but the wind-griever had no problem to cut through it. As the mirror was ready to dissipate, it left behind traces of red petals in its vanquish. It was as if March was the one in control of the mirror instead of Glados. 

 

“H-How?” Glados gasped, falling backward to the ground. 

 

“Because I’m stronger than you,” March glared upon the fallen griever. He was going to deliver the final blow to Glados, bringing up his blade and ready to swing it one last time. 

 

Omar was handling twin uzi guns and allowing the automatic gun to distract March for a short amount of time. Not being fazed by it, March properly sliced every bullet into perfect halves before realizing that it was too simple of an attack to be done. Omar’s powers activated and made every piece explode into a wide radius like a flash grenade. Glados already left the verge of death by March’s hellish sword. 

 

“Thanks,” Glados appreciated the help from Omar and stopped by his side to catch her breath.

 

“Bullets aren’t cheap,” he retorted plainly, reloading the guns for the next round. “There won’t be a 'next' time most likely.”

 

“I wished you grew up with a normal life.”

 

“I had the same thought,” Omar sighed, locking the slots into place and aiming them precisely for March. “Life was never fair to us to start with.” Bullets escaped the barrels one after another in rapid succession. Omar ensured to touch every single bullet before reloading as a precautionary step. 

 

March blew out a breath of crimson that impeded the pathway of the bullets’ trajectory. In fact, after a pause, it reflected the objects backward. “Flow,” March commanded a horde of petals to engulf Omar, isolating him from his teammates. It was like a tunnel with Omar on one end and March on the other. Time slowed to Omar, wavering in his stepping as to be cautious of what to do in his situation. As March walked forward, Camille barged in between and began decimating the tunnel. 

 

“Remember, this is a party,” Camille taunted, ducking in her stance before launching herself forward to engage close-combat with March. As her blade arm crashed with March’s sword, they intensely glared at each other with the intent of killing one of the other. Camille’s mouth moved as it spoke harsh words, “You know, I never liked you as a person. You were a weed waiting to be plucked in the garden.”

 

“I accept all forms of compliments,” March’s laughter faded along with his faint smile, and soon his sword followed the same action, seeping through Camille’s arms and reanimating itself. Catching her off-guard, he pressed the crimson blade with little force against her smooth, softly tanned skin. “But, yours is something that I will debate with your head.”

 

Omar began firing away again. It was getting redundant to March, but he figured that cornered mice will do anything to stay alive. There was a high chance that each bullet was laced with Omar’s explosive touch, and March had to devoid the possibility of being distracted by anything. His focus was to kill off each member until the silence filled the atmosphere again. 

 

Using his powers defensively, March encased the bullets in separate vortexes of air to halt the bullets’ tracks. He then forced them into the air to be isolated from the battlefield, but he had his eyes directly on Camille. Unexpectedly, Camille was resorted to using her secret Dragon’s Breath technique. March saw as her teeth grew sharper and animalistic before her chest glowed in a faded orange-red. There was no time to react before her mouth opened and released an onslaught of incredible flames face-first to him. “Even a split moment saved you,” March spat before going into petals in the wind. 

 

Despite him already leaving Camille’s side, she was not content with the action and spewed her vicious fires at the petals and roared with intensity along the battlefield of her rage and determination to burn down her opponent. March reappeared a few feet away from Camille, and she instantly noticed the obviously charred area of March’s pants that she was able to inflict. “Looks like you can’t stand the heat, huh?” Camille taunted as her arms morphed to resemble wings of a bird. 

 

“I sometimes forget that you’re ranking is just underneath me,” March huffed angrily, knowing that her body manipulation was far too advanced for its own good. He remembered when WCKED dissected Camille to understand how her body works and understood that there was a real science behind her body that was logical but at the same time impossible for the human race to eventually achieve. She was a walking contradiction to him. Carefully analyzing the others as they stood by and observed the single-handed battle, March had to also keep his eye on Camille because she was the joker in a deck of cards.

 

Camille exchanged a quick glance at Glados before launching into the air at a high-speed. Understanding the gesture, Glados yelled, “Mirror House!” 

 

Twenty mirrors mysteriously appeared and surrounded March. Another individual mirror appeared in front of Camille. The mirror began cycling in a different direction from each other, attempting to confuse March. However, March comprehended what they were used for because he had seen the technique before. It was the combination between Camille and Glados strictly. Simultaneously, the two female grievers and March commanded together, “Harpie's Hunting Ground!”

 

“To think that I would live to see a day where I would be in the center of this little funhouse,” March commented, fiddling his fingers around. Once his fingers stopped the motion, all the mirrors were stationary as they were. As Camille came out and flew swiftly by March, she was almost caught by his hands if Glados did not summon a mirror between both of them. It was a two-way portal with the backside leading somewhere else and vice versa. “Oh, more tricks.” 

 

Camille disappeared into the mirror and March almost lost his hand as the portal immediately closed. “Next time it’s your head!” Glados threatened from afar, earning a light chuckle from Archie and Perilloux.

 

March sensed upcoming danger from behind and turned to see one of the twenty mirrors opened and revealed a fast shadowy figure coming to strike at him. He apprehended it with his bloody blade, and he saw the spark of bloodlust in Camille’s eyes as their eyes came into contact. The feathers on those wings were not normal as the structure of its composition was denser than steel, and March could feel the weight being pressed against his secret sword. “What abnormal wings you have,” March could not help but use a little sarcasm against her.

 

“Thank you,” Camille snided at him, thrusting her wings a little forward and then one final push to push her and March far away from each other. As they traveled through the air, she swung her right wing at him and shot an array of sharpened feathers his way. 

 

A mirror came midway in the path of the feathers and swallowed it. March was still being launched in the opposite direction from the force of Camille’s blow. Two mirrors opened from front and back of March as it released the feathers in a slightly even proportion. March blocked both ends expertly with his sword and was to scoff at their vain efforts before something was tugging his intuition that it was not over yet.

 

What he was not entirely aware of was the third mirror directly above him. Perilloux, Tempest, and Archie were charging an attack to come down upon March. It was too bad that it was too late because it was already traveling through Glados’ mirror. The portal opened and a combined attack from the grievers came down in a violent and tremendous sound.

 

March stared dumbly upwards and saw an arrow of pink and purple fusing together into a fuchsia was spiraling downwards. It was quite a hypnotizing sight to March at first, but he realized the danger he was put in from its presence. The radius it was covering was wide and its travel speed was too fast for March to dodge it in time. All there was left as an option for March was to face it head-on and overpower it. Without further questioning, March drew his power into his sword and swung with all his might. “Urggg, aaaah!”

 

****

 

Earth King oozing a strange orange and purple color from the black glass around the eyes of his mask as he felt memories struggling to stay in his head. A clear thought of someone with hair as dark as the night sky accompanied by a smile that shined like a star. Earth King has only left a question as to who the mysterious blurred person was. Their laughter contagious as a plague almost brought a smile to crack upon Earth King’s frustrated face. “I want to forget this person,” Earth King whispered, rigidly wrinkling the clothes around his chest. Whenever he tried to look at the face of the person, there was a light so bright that it swallowed Thomas whole… it scared him to approach it. 

 

Minho descended freely as he soared downwards. His clothes remained dry despite the harsh downpour. “I’ll set you free, Thomas.”

 

“Thomas?” Earth King replied, bewildered by the unfamiliar name. “He wandered into oblivion.”

 

As moisture collectively entered the earth, it thoroughly created mud. The faint hints of quotidian memories lingered within Earth King, but a window broke that threw everything that was significant to the earth-runner into the black hole. Earth King commanded the mud to slither to his position but was surprised when a darkish shade of blue was permeating into the mud as well. A hindrance had appeared, and Earth King was finding it obnoxious.

 

The mud swayed, left to right, circled around, and formed a sphere. Earth King could understand more than anyone that there was a demand for dominance over the material due to it containing a mixture of both elements that he and Minho respectively owned. “This earth is mine,” Earth King threatened to Minho.

 

“I don’t think so. It’s  _ ours _ to share,” Minho transformed the mud into open arms until Earth King shifted it into a human skull. “We as humans coexist. No immunes, no runners, no grievers. You and I are as ordinary as ants among a colony.” 

 

“Wrong,” Earth King responded, clenching the area where his heart was. “This world will know despair.” Layers upon layers of mud stacked until it was forming a tower. It was almost voiding itself from Minho’s control due to Earth King’s massive energy pressure. “Alone. I will stand alone to support the Chancellor’s wishes. I will act as a bridge for his ambitions. This world is nothing but soil for him to care for.”

 

It was nothing far from delusional. Minho knew that much. The tower sharpened in texture and under the rain, it did not falter to any of the droplets. It stood as high like an unmoving mountain before transforming into a being with arms and a face. Its lower region remained connected to the cold earth. Thomas disappeared from sight and reappeared upon the creature’s forehead. 

 

All rain drops remained stationary as the creature moved on Thomas’ agenda. Earth King was tired of taking the wind-runner as a chump. It was about time to show the pitiful loser what true power looked like. The energy inputted into the creature was outstanding enough that Minho’s energy was neglected. It was under the sole control of Earth King. “We Die Like Martyrs,” the cold, melancholic words weighed the air heavy like the cream the Thomas would use when he was baking for Minho’s birthday. 

 

The monster’s face was covered by a variety of hands. The ears, the eyes, and the mouth were unperceivable. Behind the head, another pair of arms rose above it and prayed towards the sky. Along with its muddy sides, it grew out more arms to almost look like a centipede. The middle section of the creature torn open and formed teeth along the edges. For something in multiple shades of brown, it covered its fundamentalism as an entity clearly to Minho.

 

Taking his transparent bow, Minho was mentally prepared to obliterate the beast out of its essence. If courage was what it took to push the arrow forward, then the target would be struck without worry or doubt. Minho had his eyes set on diminishing the defense that Thomas was putting up to free him from the immurement of hell. Like Icarus descending, Minho would fall gracefully into the waters. Swimming through the murk, his light would find where Thomas was hiding.

 

The battle was far from over… 

  
  


Almost like cruel time resumed, the rain began to move again to gravity’s embrace. Unfazed by the water, the monster ripped out a rambunctious screech that it rang the earth like a bell. Earth King slowly dissolved into the creature as if he was hiding within its muck, never wanting to be found. “Selfish as always,” Minho commented, knowing Thomas was not going to hear those words. “I’ll get through it all for you. I’m in this relationship  _ with _ you. Just,” Minho had to breathe because his emotions were almost losing its composure. “I’m not always strong on my own. I need you to be there to pick me up when I fall, but it looks like I have to pick up my responsibility to get you out of this mess you endured on your own the whole time.” 

 

The earth was spiking up like a needle bed and forced Minho to stay afloat to prevent being fatally injured. Feelings that shimmered were boiling in the small pot, foam already trickling on the side. Drawing the line on his bow, an equally transparent arrow appeared where the line was pinched. Minho’s fingers were shaking, scared of being released against his opponent until he sighed and allowed his emotions to be put back on the shelf for another moment in time.

 

Inside the mind of Stephen Thomas, he was tucked safely in an abundance of mud, knowing the warmth of the water that infiltrated the earth he possessed. If Minho was immune, Thomas thought if they would have ever lived a normal life? The letters of Minho’s name was slowly being erased from Thomas’ head. The spotlight on the center stage was dying out, and it was time to move on. If Thomas was not Earth King, would WCKED be forgotten by the brunet? 

 

The only real protruding thought was the concept of someone loving him wholesomely. Vaguely yearning for the rough hands to slide through the interspaces of his fingers, he craved the attention of someone while he wallowed in isolation.  _ It was better this way. _

 

Stephen Thomas and Earth King. Was there always a line that divided the two names? Thomas was sure that it was supposed to be one name overall. It was not like he was going to say anything, hear anything, or see anything. He was blind to all of the sins and lived peacefully in ignorance. Despite stating that, there was still a lingering uneasiness that Thomas had aching in his heart. 

 

An arrow penetrated through the monster’s mouth on the stomach area, but it ate up without hesitation. It took another powerful shot but remained unfazed still. Minho was finding it troublesome how durable the thing was. In silence, he stood by as the creature attacked him indiscriminately, having only one purpose in its creation. It was not like the earth-runner was an obdurate sinner, for Minho knew who exactly Stephen Thomas was. No matter how many times Minho stepped into the lake with Thomas, the waters will never be the same. They never could step into the same river twice. 

 

Minho understood that well enough to comprehend that Thomas would never be the same person he stepped into the river with. It would be a different Thomas each time, but no matter what Minho would accept the outcome because he accepted the earth-runner for who he was. A birdcage was nothing meant to imprison the free bird; it was a home for it to rest and stay. If the bird wanted to stay within it, there was nothing wrong with it, nor was there anything wrong with it if it wanted to leave. The bird was home wherever he wanted to land.

 

It was nothing but mere words to Minho, but it kept him going steady as he aimed directly at the gaping mouth that proceeded to take hits indifferently. Changing tactics, Minho flooded the mouth with the rain until enough of his energy was mixing with the mud to subtly control the beast. Minho forced the creature to remove its hands from the mouth, eyes, and ears. It was as if the creature had to face the truth of the outside world and remained motionless to absorb the rain that Minho provided. 

 

Minho sighed as he gently flew over to the head of the monster. When he was close enough to touch the mud, he inserted his hand inside and allowed the dirty mud stain his arm and clothes. It hungrily took all of Minho in and had him inside of it in no time. It was as if Minho was finally lost where Thomas was lost. It was cold while it was pitch black. Nowhere to go, nowhere to stay. It changed as it remained. 

 

_ Don’t come closer. _

 

“Why?” Minho answered the question in his head. He could hear Thomas’ voice so audibly. Butterflies that were supposed to be flapping its last bits of energy to die was reborn with vitality. Moving silently through the realm of darkness, Minho was traveling to where to the voice was. 

 

_ I need you to stay away. _

 

“I can’t,” Minho could continue to talk in his head as if the voice could listen to his mind and converse intelligently with it. The voice was getting so loud that if he reached his hand out, he could feel the person’s body where the voice was coming out of. 

 

_ Please. I’m so ashamed of this world. I don’t want the truth anymore. I don’t want reality. _

 

“It’s okay to not be okay.”

 

_ I’m scared. I’m so scared of it. I don’t want to be the villain anymore. _

 

“You don’t have to be the villain anymore. You can change your part now.”

 

_ In this story, this story by me, I only can write you as the protagonist. You were the hero, but I was the villain. _

 

“Then stop writing it like that. You can stop it now. You can end the story and write a happier one.”

 

_ How can I trust you?  _

 

“You don’t have to. You can only let yourself trust in what people can say to you.”

 

_ Will you be there for me if I told the truth to you? Without abandoning me? _

 

“Yes.”

 

 _So comforting. I was so tired of being alone._ _Thank you… Minho._

 

****

 

March’s clothes were tattered while his stamina was lingering on a frail spec. He fortunate enough to be able to stand on his two feet. March quietly looked ahead of himself to see his ex-teammates stand stably to endure another round, but he only smiled gently at them as he realized the fight was long over. He was going to really kill them, but he put more food on his plate than he could chew. The apparent ache in his muscles was warning him that he was going to collapse eventually. “Gah… Y-Y’know that… in this lifetime I spent, I wondered when the Chancellor was going to  _ kill _ me with his hands. It never came true. What cruel fate for him to care enough to let me die by another person’s hands. Truly disgraceful.”

 

“Quit spitting provocative shit and enjoy your last breaths of life, idiot,” Perilloux angrily scratched through March’s hair. 

 

“Unnecessary,” Archie commented, receiving a punch from Omar and Tempest.

 

“In this world of war, I was glad the enemy was you bunch,” March confessed, realizing his body was not going to last after the massive strain he put on himself. The reason why the technique that he performed was so powerful was because it absorbed an outstanding amount of energy and blood from March. Excessive usage would have left him nothing but to await at Death’s doorstep. “I still oppose that you guys will end Chancellor’s rule over this Earth, but I have no choice but to let it happen. The good guys always win, right?” Immediately falling to the floor, March was smiling at his last moments before his body began to turn into tiny pink petals of a cherry blossom tree. “Goodbye everyone. I trust that the Chancellor will join me in the afterlife, anyways. Minho was able to pierce through Earth King, I mean, Thomas’ heart. It won’t be long before those two come to end everything. If I get reborn in this world as another being, I want to be human again.”

 

“I’m sure it will be granted,” Glados cheerfully assured as she bent down to kiss March on the forehead. Everyone gathered around the disappearing male and gave him each something to remember them by. Omar gripped tightly at the hand of the wind-griever before it became a flock of petals. Perilloux and Tempest rubbed his back firmly as it became nothing but air. Archie and Camille both caressed the dying griever’s cheek. Archie walked away as tears were flowing down his cheeks carelessly. Omar stood next to the archer and held his hand in an effort to console the male. 

 

****

 

Chancellor Kevin watched as the stars in the night sky winked at him as he laid next to the weak bodies of the Wonders. Ophelia was struggling to take another breath as her vision was unconsciously going black. She wanted to stand up to fight the Chancellor to save her sisters, but it was too much of an effort on her damaged body. Shelly and Sapphire were in the strong grasps of the Whisperer, and he looked down upon them like ants. “Say, the world wouldn’t need such insolent fools, right?” The Whisperer of the Damned mocked.

 

He threw both females harshly on the rocky ground. Laughing at their unstable breathing, the Chancellor had his fun dealing with the bait because he wanted the whole fish already. It was going to be really interesting \when Minho  _ and  _ Thomas reach the area because the wind-fool was actually able to break through the mind-manipulation that he implemented into Thomas. 

 

Before taking one more step, Chancellor halted by a mingly second and took note of the fast-passing object that flew by his face. “Arrows? How quaint,” Kevin remarked, turning his head to the trajectory, “right, Minho?”

 

“I mean, I don’t think you have a right to an opinion for being a threat to humanity,” Minho was standing tall, but he was weakening in his strength slowly. The long and prolonged battle was taking too much out of the wind-runner. 

 

“Hold still,” Thomas commanded, one arm over Minho’s shoulders, manipulating the ground, with all of its concrete, dirt, and soil, to swallow up Kevin’s feet. Consciousness as fickle as a mistress, Thomas was sure that if it were not for Minho’s energy resonating within him that Thomas would have been out of commission long ago. “Tree of Life.”

 

Three buds appeared near the surface of the ground on Kevin’s feet. It was innocuous in nature, but it was not long before it erupted into a full-grown tree. It wrapped Kevin within its branches and kept him pinned among the bark.

 

Thomas held his boyfriend’s hand as if it were the first time they had physical contact. Lovingly rubbing his thumb through the worn hands, Thomas pulled his and Minho’s hand upwards until their knuckles faced the Whisperer’s nose. A bow was trying to take form, but it was not the usual transparent bow that Minho was used to seeing. It transcended into the plain of greater power, obtaining it only because Thomas’ last lingering energy was flowing within Minho. The bow took the form of the earth, colliding stones and gravel against each other to form a very sturdy anchor for a powerful arrow. Next, the string absorbed the ubiquitous oxygen and carefully layered a rope of the wind. Finally, the arrow sapped away the water from the branches that were not holding down Kevin, and the radiating water transferred itself to mold the tip of the arrow and then the rest of it. 

 

“I won’t resist your next shot,” Kevin announced as he smirked while being cornered. “I saw something really beautiful before my end.” 

 

“We don’t have to kill you, but we know the sides of you that this world has yet to see. Your crimes against humans will not be turned a blind eye to,” Thomas was mustering up victorious words.

 

Knowing that the material of the wood was organic, it would be no problem for Kevin to infiltrate the tree’s system with his plague and destroy it with a single moment of his finger. However, it was different this time to see the combined powers of Minho and Thomas. The weapon they manifested together was giving off such power that it sent fear down Kevin’s spine. It was fear! For a first time in a long time, it was scaring the Chancellor that there was someone more powerful than him. Although painful, it was a pleasure and honor to die at that moment. “I have no regrets of the countless people I used at my disposal or the genocides that I have elaborated on. I lived an aesthetically beautiful life.” 

 

Minho closed his eyes and opened them slowly to beam at Thomas. “Are you still scared?” whispered the wind-runner.

 

“No,” Thomas genuinely answered without looking at his boyfriend’s face, “I’m okay now. I have you to hold my hand until the end.”

 

Minho hummed in response, redirecting his attention to the Chancellor. Together with Thomas’ fingers, Minho had let go of the string.

  
For a moment, the Chancellor realized how much of a despicable life he was living up to. The arrow soared loudly across the battlefield. It rung victory, it boasted the people in glee, it was the finale that everyone was waiting for. Kevin smiled, knowing far too well that it was not something he can deflect on his own strength. Three seconds before the impact, Kevin swore he could see March’s smile hidden behind the reflection of the water of the arrow. “At least hell won’t be lonely.” Nothing was left behind in the arrow’s path. The tree, the ground, and the Chancellor were gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeaaah, it's the end. Just like that. I won't really add anything else to describe what happens post-war and whatnot. I don't want to write another series for this without serious consideration. I hope you all enjoyed the way it ended, and if not, go write the ending in your own words, biotch. Anyways~ leave a comment to clear any confusion or to simply comment on your experience reading this story! You are free to do what you want to do. I am so happy that I finished this along with everyone got this far with me. Thank you and be safe out there!

**Author's Note:**

> Any questions or comments? Leave them as you feel necessary. I will get back at you as soon as I can. Please be careful out there and have a great day, everyone! C:


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